Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall said they were forced to put a white actor on the original “Coming to America,” and they weren’t kidding. (Watch the video below.)
Asked this week by Jimmy Kimmel about how comedian Louie Anderson got his role in the 1988 hit, Hall replied, “I love Louie, but I think we were forced to put Louie in it …. We were forced to put on a white person. “
Murphy added that the studio, Paramount, made clear its mandate: “The whole cast is black – and that went back to the ’80s – so it was like,’ We need to have a white person. a white person in the film. ‘ What? So it was, “Who’s the funniest white guy around?” And Louie, we knew it, we were fine with him. That’s how Louie got into the movie. “
But the two stars did not have, ahem, carte blanche, to choose at will, Hall recalled.
“It was official,” Hall said. “I had a list. They gave me a list of three white guys. And they said, ‘Who would you rather work with?’ I said Louie. “
Anderson tweeted “Wait What?” after Murphy made similar comments last month. Anderson played Maurice the fast food worker in the original and returns to the sequel, “Coming 2 America.”
Murphy and Hall, of course, resume their role as Prince Akeem and Semmi. “Coming 2 America” begins airing Friday on Amazon Prime.
Fast forward to 8:20 to get peer feedback on Anderson:
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