The star of the 2007 American romantic comedy Norbit - Eddie Murphy, gave out his reasons why he chose not to impersonate the American stand-up comedian Bill Cosby during the 40th Anniversary of the American television show - Saturday Night Live earlier this year.
During Eddie Murphy's interview with The Washington Post, the actor shared that he felt there was "nothing funny" about making light of the once beloved comic legend, "It's very unpleasant. If you get up there and you crack jokes about Cosby, you're just hurting people. You're hurting Bill Cosby. You're hurting his accusers. I was like, 'Hey, I'm coming back to Saturday Night Live for the anniversary, I'm not turning my moment on the show into this other thing.'"
Shortly after the show was aired, Saturday Night Live alumni, Canadian stand-up comedian - Norm McDonald, revealed via his Twitter account that he wrote the sketch poking fun at Bill Cosby, however, Eddie Murphy grew uncomfortable with the idea and turned down the sketch, because Eddie Murphy didn't want to "kick a man when he's down."
A regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984 - Eddie Murphy said that he "totally understood" why the late-night show SNL wanted to cover Bill Cosby in a sketch. Murphy stated, "It was the biggest thing in the news at the time. I can see why they thought it would be funny, and the sketch that Norm wrote was hysterical."
78-year-old Norm McDonald then gave a statement obtained by NBC after the comedian had decided not to perform as Cosby during the anniversary special of Saturday Night Live, "I am very appreciative of Eddie and I applaud his actions."
On the other hand, the latest update surrounding Bill Cosby's ongoing trial came last week, when a judge dismissed Bill Cosby's effort to throw out a libel lawsuit filed by three women who stated that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them.
