Eddie Murphy Hilariously Recounts ‘Absolutely Accurate’ Prince Basketball Story!
Yahoo.com, By Kimberley Richards·TRENDS REPORTER-HUFFPOST, Posted July 6th 2021
Eddie Murphy recently recounted his side of the iconic story involving Prince and a pick-up basketball game his late brother, Charlie Murphy, once hilariously told and reenacted on “Chappelle’s Show.”
The comedian confirmed during an appearance on “The Tonight Show” that his brother’s account of their iconic match against the late “Purple Rain” legend was “totally and absolutely accurate.”
Eddie Murphy described what everyone was wearing at the time to host Jimmy Fallon, saying that Prince proposed the idea of playing basketball while he was wearing a leather jacket and a gold chain around his waist.
“A waistlet, I think,” Eddie Murphy added with a laugh. (Watch the entire clip below.)
Prince’s revolutionary and iconic style was the center of the memorable “Chappelle’s Show” skit, in which Dave Chappelle portrayed the late singer while donning a purple ensemble, complete with a ruffle shirt.
In the skit from the mid-2000s show, Charlie Murphy recounts the night when Prince and his team handedly beat him, his brother and their team in a game of pick-up basketball.
“I dare you to challenge Prince to a game of ball one-on-one,” Charlie Murphy says at one point in the segment.
During Eddie Murphy’s appearance on “The Tonight Show,” he shared that one of his teammates that night did not play as well as he normally would have because he was wearing a pair of Prince’s sneakers that were too small.
The “Coming 2 America” actor said his friend, named Larry, wore the shoes the legendary singer lent him despite the size because he was “so excited to have Prince’s sneakers on.”
In 2017, guitarist Micki Free, who played on Prince’s team that night, told Esquire that everything that happened in the “Chappelle’s Show” sketch “was for real.”
The iconic sketch is one of Charlie Murphy’s memorable and legendary comedic moments. He died in 2017. Prince, who reportedly loved the sketch, died in 2016.