Eddie Murphy Left 2007 Oscars After Losing Best Supporting Actor Because He Didn’t Want to Be ‘The Sympathy Guy All Night’
Eddie Murphy famously left the 2007 Academy Awards after he lost the best supporting actor award for his role as James “Thunder” Early in “Dreamgirls.” However, the premature exit wasn’t out of spite. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the “Trading Places” star said it was because several of his fellow attendees felt bad for him, and he didn’t want to be “the sympathy guy all night.”
“What happened was I was at the Oscars, I had lost, and then people kept coming over to me and kept [patting] me on the shoulder,” Murphy said. “Clint Eastwood came and rubbed my shoulder. And I was like, ‘Oh, no, no, I’m not gonna be this guy all night. Let’s just leave.’ I didn’t storm out. I was like, ‘I’m not gonna be the sympathy guy all night.’”
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Other best supporting actor nominees that year included Mark Wahlberg for “The Departed,” Alan Arkin for “Little Miss Sunshine,” Jackie Earle Haley for “Little Children” and Djimon Hounsou for “Blood Diamond.” Arkin walked away with the win.
Murphy recalled seeing an early screening of “Little Miss Sunshine.” He said he was extremely impressed with Arkin’s performance and predicted his Oscar win.
“Jeff Katzenberg invited me over to see ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ six months before it came out in the theaters, and I literally watched the movie and I watched Alan — and I hadn’t been nominated or anything yet — and I watched the movie and I turned to Jeff afterwards and I said, ‘Now that performance right there is one of those performances that will steal somebody’s Oscar.’ I said those exact words,” Murphy said. “I was like, ‘He could steal somebody’s Oscar,’ then he stole mine.”
He added with a laugh, “No, I don’t feel like he stole mine.”
“Dreamgirls” was nominated in eight categories at the 2007 Academy Awards. It won for best achievement and sound mixing, and best supporting actress for Jennifer Hudson.
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