While legendary comedian Eddie Murphy isn’t afraid of cancel culture, he does find much of his older material cringe-worthy, according to a recent interview with the New York Times.
Murphy, 58, admitted in the profile promoting his upcoming Netflix film, “Dolemite is My Name,” that material from his 1987 stand-up special, “Raw,” makes him cringe in 2019.
“I was a young guy processing a broken heart, you know, kind of an a–hole,” Murphy admitted of his controversial jokes.
Today, Murphy confesses that “Raw” is “a bit much, my goodness.”
His early stand-up often delved into racial, gender and homosexual stereotypes, including jokes about the AIDS epidemic. He now recognizes those jokes as “ignorant,” in addition to originally apologizing to the masses in 1996.
“I deeply regret any pain all this has caused,” he said in a statement at the time. “Just like the rest of the world, I am more educated about AIDS in 1996 than I was in 1981. I think it is unfair to take the words of a misinformed 21-year-old and apply them to an informed 35-year-old man. I know how serious an issue AIDS is the world over. I know that AIDS isn’t funny. It’s 1996 and I’m a lot smarter about AIDS now.”
“Dolemite Is My Name” comes out on Oct. 4.