--- title: Eddie Murphy: Why He Didn't Impersonate Bill Cosby for 'SNL' description: "If you get up there and you crack jokes about him, you’re just hurting people" canonical: https://time.com/4071973/eddie-murphy-bill-cosby-snl/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-13T19:23:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:45:34.956Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Eddie Murphy Explains Why He Didn't Impersonate Bill Cosby for 'SNL' Anniversary og:description: "If you get up there and you crack jokes about him, you’re just hurting people" og:url: https://time.com/4071973/eddie-murphy-bill-cosby-snl/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte00dd29ce076c630/6988681b524fc07a12df4fda/eddie-murphy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Eddie Murphy at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Feb. 22, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Eddie Murphy Explains Why He Didn't Impersonate Bill Cosby for 'SNL' Anniversary twitter:description: "If you get up there and you crack jokes about him, you’re just hurting people" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte00dd29ce076c630/6988681b524fc07a12df4fda/eddie-murphy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Eddie Murphy Explains Why He Didn't Impersonate Bill Cosby for _SNL_ Anniversary > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly Oct 13, 2015 7:23 PM UTC  Eddie Murphy at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Feb. 22, 2015. Eddie Murphy at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Feb. 22, 2015.Allen Berezovsky—Getty Images by [Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly Oct 13, 2015 7:23 PM UTC Following the _Saturday Night Live_ 40th anniversary special back in February, former _SNL_ cast member Norm Macdonald revealed over the course of several, now-deleted tweets that [Eddie Murphy was asked to appear as Bill Cosby during the show](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/19/norm-macdonald-describes-writing-snl-40th-and-trying-get-eddie-murphy-play-bill). Murphy’s impression would have occurred during “Celebrity Jeopardy,” but Macdonald said Murphy turned down the chance to slam Cosby. “Eddie decides the laughs are not worth it. He will not kick a man when he is down,” Macdonald wrote. (Kenan Thompson wound up playing Cosby in the sketch instead.) Speaking about the incident for the first time in an interview with _The Washington Post_, Murphy said while the sketch Macdonald wrote was “hysterical,” [he didn’t think it was appropriate to mock Cosby for the dozens of sexual assault allegations](http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2015/10/13/eddie-murphy-hasnt-told-a-joke-onstage-in-28-years-hes-still-the-funniest-guy-around/) levied against the 78-year-old. “It’s horrible,” Murphy said. “There’s nothing funny about it. If you get up there and you crack jokes about him, you’re just hurting people. You’re hurting him. You’re hurting his accusers. I was like, ‘Hey, I’m coming back to _SNL_ for the anniversary, I’m not turning my moment on the show into this other thing.’” After news broke that Murphy declined to participate in the sketch, Cosby himself released a statement praising Murphy for his decision. “I am very appreciative of Eddie and I applaud his actions,” [Cosby said in a statement released by his spokesperson](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/bill-cosby-scandal/bill-cosby-i-applaud-eddie-murphy-refusing-play-me-snl40-n308861). Murphy famously slammed Cosby in his 1987 stand-up film _Raw_, after Cosby said that the younger comic’s act [relied too heavily on foul language](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0aKNwsrtXw). _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/13/eddie-murphy-bill-cosby-snl) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4071973/eddie-murphy-bill-cosby-snl/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4071973/eddie-murphy-bill-cosby-snl/"},"headline":"Eddie Murphy Explains Why He Didn't Impersonate Bill Cosby for SNL Anniversary","datePublished":"2015-10-13T19:23:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:45:34.956Z","description":"\"If you get up there and you crack jokes about him, you’re just hurting people\"","url":"https://time.com/4071973/eddie-murphy-bill-cosby-snl/","keywords":["celebrities","Television","Bill Cosby topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte00dd29ce076c630/6988681b524fc07a12df4fda/eddie-murphy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte00dd29ce076c630/6988681b524fc07a12df4fda/eddie-murphy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Eddie Murphy at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Feb. 22, 2015.","caption":"Eddie Murphy at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Feb. 22, 2015.","creditText":"Allen Berezovsky—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4071973/eddie-murphy-bill-cosby-snl/","name":"Eddie Murphy Explains Why He Didn't Impersonate Bill Cosby for SNL Anniversary"}}]}] ```