Eddie Murphy Didn’t Want to Be a ‘Sympathy Guy’ After 2007 Oscars Loss

When Eddie Murphy lost the Oscar in 2007 to Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine for Best Supporting Actor, he left the ceremony shortly after; one headline claimed the Dreamgirls-nominated actor “bolted” out of the show and missed his co-star, Jennifer Hudson’s win. But for almost 20 years, Murphy has dispelled the rumor that implies he was a sore loser. “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 told Entertainment Weekly. “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.” When rewatching the exact moment where Arkin won, Murphy looked respectful but also nervous; he was nominated for an Oscar, after all, it’s a stressful moment.

Murphy wasn’t surprised by Arkin’s win at all, especially because he was of fan of his performance as well. “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,’” Murphy continued. “I said those exact words. I was like, ‘He could steal somebody’s Oscar,’ then he stole mine… No, I don’t feel like he stole mine.”