Bill Cosby’s publicist hit back at Eddie Murphy on Sunday, calling the comedian a “Hollywood slave” who’d become “clickbait” over his comments about Cosby on "Saturday Night Live."
On Instagram, Andrew Wyatt said it was “sad” that Murphy — who appeared on the show for the first time Saturday after 35 years — had used his “glorious” return to "disparage" Cosby.
“One would think that Mr. Murphy was given his freedom to leave the plantation, so that he could make his own decision,” Wyatt wrote. “But he decided to sell himself back to being a Hollywood slave.”
In his "SNL" monologue, Murphy described his expansive family and the birth of his 10th child, then said: “If you would’ve told me 30 years ago that I would be this boring, stay-at-home house dad and Bill Cosby would be in jail — even I wouldn't have taken that bet.”
“Who’s America’s dad now?” he said, imitating Cosby.
The discord between Cosby and Murphy dates back decades. Cosby reportedly scolded the younger comedian over his explicit language — an event Murphy worked into a bit he performed in the movie “Eddie Murphy Raw.”
Cosby was sentenced last year to 3 to 10 years in prison after being convicted of drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand, who testified that Cosby violated her at his Pennsylvania home in 2004 after she came to him for career advice. At the time, she was the Temple University women's basketball administrator.
Cosby has been accused by dozens of women of sexual misconduct, but he was only charged criminally in the Constand case. He called the prosecutor a profanity in open court.
In an interview last month, Cosby called the case a “set-up” and said he didn't expect to express remorse for the crimes he’d been convicted of.