Eddie Murphy denies bitterness after 2007 Oscars loss, reveals real reason he left early
Eddie Murphy is revealing the real reason he left the Oscars early after losing the Best Supporting Actor award.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 12: Eddie Murphy attends Netflix’s “Being Eddie” premiere at Netflix Tudum Theater on November 12, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Presley Ann/Getty Images for Netflix)
Murphy was nominated at the 2007 ceremony for his role as James “Thunder” Early in “Dreamgirls,” but lost to Alan Arkin for his work in “Little Miss Sunshine.”
He told Entertainment Weekly he was taking the loss in stride until “sympathy” came pouring in, particularly from a Hollywood icon.
“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,” he told the outlet. “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.”
Eddie Murphy at “The Pickup” World Premiere held at Regal LA Live on July 27, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images)
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Murphy also recalled that he knew Arkin would win the Oscar long before the ceremony as he had watched “Little Miss Sunshine” several months prior to its release.
“Jeff Katzenberg invited me over to see ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ six months before it came out in 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.’”
He added, “I said those exact words. I was like, ‘He could steal somebody’s Oscar,’ then he stole mine.”
Murphy then laughed and clarified, “No, I don’t feel like he stole mine.”
FILE – Honoree actor-comedian Eddie Murphy attends the WSJ. Magazine 2019 Innovator Awards in New York on Nov. 6, 2019. “Coming 2 America,” the sequel to the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy, has landed on a date to come to audiences. Amazon Studios announced Friday that the film which reunites Murphy and Arsenio Hall will debut on Amazon Prime Video on March 5, 2021. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
The “Coming to America” star has yet to win an Oscar but feels there’s more to winning than a simple formula.
“Winning an Oscar is more art than science,” he said. “It’s not like oh, you do this, and you do that, and you win the Oscar. No, it’s all this intangible stuff that comes with winning: campaigning and your past stuff and what do they owe you and s–t. All of that stuff comes into play when you get Oscars.”
Murphy felt that Arkin, who died aged 89 in 2023, met the requirements for Oscars glory.
He said, “When you add all of that stuff into it, he totally deserves his Oscar for his whole career. He’s an amazing actor.”
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