Eddie Murphy isn’t going easy on the #MeToo movement when he returns to the stage as a standup comedian next year.
According to WENN.com, Murphy doesn’t plan to change his stand-up comedy sets in light of the #MeToo movement. Murphy says his material has always been controversial and subject to a high level of scrutiny.
The Me Too movement was founded in 2006 by activist, community organizer and sex assault victim Tarana Burke (above) to combat sexual harassment and sexual assault.
The 58-year-old actor and comedian will return to host sketch TV series Saturday Night Live, where he got his big start 35 years ago. Murphy will host SNL on December 21 before heading out on the road in 2020.
Reflecting on his return to the stage for the first time in three decades, the Beverly Hills Cop star told the Wall Street Journal‘s WSJ magazine that he is used to a heightened level of scrutiny.
He previously had to apologize to certain special interest groups for some of his comedy material, but not everybody will get the same white glove treatment.
Murphy he won’t be apologetic for offending the easily offended.
“Before there was the #MeToo movement, all this stuff that’s going on, the woke stuff, whatever y’all are calling it. People would talk s**t, get bent out of shape,” he said.
“I had to apologize for stuff. And that was, you know, 30 years ago,” said Murphy, who is currently engaged to 40-year-old Paige Butcher, the mother of his two youngest children.
“Now everybody gets treated the same way. But it’s not like I’m looking at it like, ‘Oh, now I don’t know if I can do stand-up because it’s changed’. It’s like, it changed for everyone else.”
He added: “So when I put my stuff together, I ain’t stepping on nobody’s toes, giving nobody reasons to picket me and all that s**t.”
Explaining how he plans to test out his new material before he heads out on the tour, Eddie added: “I’m just going to pop up and do the comedy clubs. And try to get my s**t together.
Last week, the star told late-night host Stephen Colbert it was former U.S. President Barack Obama who inspired his return to comedy, after Barack asked him, “When are you going to do stand-up again?” in 2015.
