In 1990, two of the most powerful Black men in Hollywood sat down together for a candid interview in Spin Magazine, and what they said to each other remains one of the rawest public conversations about race and power in the entertainment industry. he most successful entertainer on the planet at that moment had a confession to make about the fear that followed his own success. he most successful entertainer on the planet at that moment had a confession to make about the fear that followed his own success. His name was Eddie Murphy, and the man across from him was Spike Lee, the filmmaker he had recently compared to a cricket on national television.
he time of the interview, Murphy was riding an unprecedented wave
he time of the interview, Murphy was riding an unprecedented wave, with hit after hit at the box office, and yet he described sitting in his own office, surrounded by some of the most powerful Black men in the world, and discovering that even there, in private, they whispered when the conversation turned to race and power
Eddie Murphy said black people do not work together because they are scared,not lazy, not selfish, but scared
He explained that every Black person who ever really stood up and said,“This is what I am about,” got destroyed for it, citing Dr
King and Muhammad Ali as examples
So, he said, Black people reach a certain level of success, pull their circle in tight to protect what they have, because the idea of risking that by collaborating with someone else becomes terrifying
That was not a sound bite
That was a confession from the most powerful Black entertainer alive at that moment, admitting that the fear was so deep even he could not fully shake it
The two men had not started out as allies
Spike Lee publicly called Eddie Murphy a sellout, saying Eddie had the most power of any black man in Hollywood and was doing nothing with it
Murphy fired back during an appearance on Arsenio Hall’s show, calling Lee a cricket and dismissing him as a“little burnt,hobbit”who was playing a militant role
He also said,without me,there would be no Spike,referring to the opening doors his own success had created
Behind closed doors,however,Eddie Murphy admitted Spike was right,that he could do more with his influence,and that collaboration was not happening across the separate camps in Black Hollywood
During the Spin interview,Spike pressed Eddie on why they had never worked together,and why separate camps existed,the Spike camp,the Eddie camp,the Keenen camp,the Robert Townsend camp,and nobody was crossing over
Murphy acknowledged the problem and gave his answer about fear,a theme he returned to repeatedly
Now, here is where it gets good
After that interview,the world started hearing rumors of Spike and Eddie finally doing something together
It was going to be massive:a James Brown biopic
James Brown himself had told Eddie Murphy he should play him,saying,“They ain’t going to laugh if you do it serious,”and Eddie knew it
He called Spike’s script for the film the most incredible script he had ever read
He said James Brown’s story had everything:sex,drugs,chaos,genius,survival
Spike was hired in 2006,the same year James Brown died,to write and direct the film
Eddie Murphy was attached to star
This was the collaboration that was supposed to happen,decades in the making,finally coming together
and then Hollywood took it away
Brian Grazer fired Spike Lee, just like that
He replaced him with Tate Taylor,the white director who made The Help,a movie many in the Black community criticized as a sanitized,feel-good version of the civil rights era told from the perspective of the white woman who saved everybody
Mick Jagger,a co-producer,had his fingerprints all over that decision,according to reports
Eddie Murphy was out, too
Chadwick Boseman ended up playing James Brown in the 2014 film Get On Up,delivering a brilliant performance
But the point of the project’s collapse,and how it collapsed,was not lost on those who remembered the 1990 conversation
Tell me that is not exactly what Eddie Murphy warned about in 1990,one commentator noted
Flash forward to today,Black Hollywood is more visible than it has ever been
Ryan Coogler made Black Panther and turned itinto a generational moment
Kendrick Lamar stood on the Super Bowl stage in front of around 100 million people
Tyler Perry owns a 330-acre studio lot in Atlanta
Jordan Peele went from sketch comedy to directing some of the most talked about films of the last decade
The names are there,the money is there,the audience is there,but the camps are still there, too
These power players still do not combine forces the way the studios they work for have always done,one observer noted,adding that when Black artists do speak up,like Taraji P
Henson broke down in tears at The Color Purple press tour talking about being underpaid on a film about Black women’s survival,it was treated like a one-time thing,not a systemic problem
The whispers are still happening
The fear Eddie Murphy described in 1990 did not go away
It just got a bigger budget
Spike Lee and Eddie Murphy had one of the realest conversations about Black power and Black fear that Hollywood has ever produced
They cleared the air
They agreed on the problem
They finally had a project that would have been a landmark
And a white producer fired Spike and handed the movie to the guy who made The Help
That is not a conspiracy theory,commentators have noted
Those are the receipts
The collaboration was real
The script was real
The project was real
And it was still taken away
Spike and Eddie still never made a movie together
And the James Brown film that was supposed to be theirs exists,and you can stream it right now
They are just not in it
If that does not tell you everything you need to know about how black Hollywood actually works,one analysis concluded,I do not know what will
