Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall are known for their classic all-Black comedies – but the actors revealed that they were forced to cast a white person in the original Coming to America.
The actors made the revelation on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday night while promoting Coming 2 America, which is out this week.
Kimmel asked the stars how Louie Anderson became apart of the original 1988 film.
That’s when they said Louie’s role of Maurice was actually pushed on them by Paramount Studios and their demand to hire a white actor for the film.
Arsenio said, “I love Louie but I think we were forced to put Louie in it. No, I think we were forced to put a white person.”
Eddie Murphy said, “Yeah, Paramount was like -because the whole cast was Black and this was back in the 80s – so it was like ‘We have to have a white person, there has to be a white person in the movie!’”
Murphy added, “So, who is the funniest white guy around right now? And then Louie, we knew him and was cool with him, so that’s how Louie got in the movie.”
“It was official,” Arsenio said. “I had a list. They gave me a list with three white guys. They said, ‘Who would you rather work with?’ I said Louie.”
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