Eddie Murphy & Arsenio Hall Were Forced to Cast White Actor In Coming To America

Coming 2 America, the three-decades-long-awaited sequel to the 1988 classic with Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall will be releasing later this week on Amazon Prime Video.

Murphy and Hall went by to Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote the movie and got candid about their bond. The duo also spoke of the experience of putting together the original Craig Brewer-directed comedy.

Kimmel asked the two stars how fellow comedian Louie Anderson came to be a part of the original Coming to America. According to both Murphy and Hall, Anderson’s appearance as Maurice was actually the result of a Paramount demand to hire a white actor. Hall remarked:

“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.”

Advertising

Advertising

Murphy added that Paramount insisted on adding a white cast member to the all-black cast.

“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!’ [We were like] ‘What?’ 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.”

Murphy remarked that Anderson is “still really funny,” after which Hall noted that the casting was really “official” as he was given a list of “three white guys” from the studio at one point. When Kimmel asked asked if he remembered who the other two were, Hall did not name them.

“Oh yeah, but I can’t say,”

We are elated to hear about the sequel to the beloved 80s comedy and are always eager to see the Murphy-Hall duo do what they do best.