Eddie Murphy says after he starred in Coming to America, there was a slew of people who claimed the 1988 comedy classic was based on their lives.
Murphy appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week ahead of the release of his Netflix documentary, Being Eddie. Around the five-minute mark of the video below, the late-night host asked the 64-year-old actor about the response to one of his most memorable films.
“There are a lot of people who claim, ‘Prince Akeem was based on me,’ but you said that the story was based on you, on your personal life,” Kimmel said.
The movie sees New York-born Murphy playing the prince of a fictional African country, Zamunda, who travels to the U.S. to find a wife who will love him for being himself, not for his royal status.
“So many people came out that said they were the real [Prince Akeem], I got sued by all these different people,” the actor explained, laughing. “They were like, 'I was the real king from Africa.' I would be out, and African people would come to me, ‘Eddie, that’s my life, you stole it from me. That’s me, Eddie.’”
The actor was, in fact, named in a lawsuit from Washington Post columnist Art Buchwald, who sued Paramount Pictures in 1988, saying Coming to America was based on his story. The lawsuit was later settled, with Buchwald and a co-plaintiff receiving $1 million.
A genuine African prince, Oman Oba Adele Mouftaou, also sued Paramount and claimed the film was based on his life, but the suit was dismissed.
Later in the show, Kimmel asked Murphy about abstaining from drugs, including during his career.
“You said nobody had more fun than you in the ‘80s, but you were not drinking or doing drugs,” Kimmel prompted.
“Back then, it was no crack yet, there was no AIDs, it was innocent,” Murphy explained. He told Collider in another recent interview that he was never interested in “the hard stuff” and that he only tried marijuana when he was in his 30s.
The former Saturday Night Live member remembered being offered cocaine while at a music venue with John Belushi and Robin Williams.
“They put some blow on the table, and I’m standing there [between] two heroes,” Murphy said. “I was just not with it.”