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Aykroyd wore Blackface opposite Eddie Murphy during a scene in 1983’s “Trading Places,” and now says he “couldn’t get away with it” in today’s climate.
This month marks the 40th anniversary of the 1983 film “Trading Places.” The hit comedy became a classic and helped launch Eddie Murphy’s film career, but co-star Dan Aykroyd says one scene didn’t age very well.
Aykroyd spoke with The Daily Beast about the film’s anniversary and mentioned the scene in which he wore Blackface opposite Murphy and fellow co-star Jamie Lee Curtis.
In “Trading Places,” Aykroyd’s character, Louis Winthorpe III, a privileged, stuffy commodities broker, and Murphy’s Billy Ray Valentine, a charismatic con man, have their lives switched over a bet made by Winthorpe’s employers, Randolph (Ralph Bellamy) and Mortimer (Don Ameche). Later in the film, the two leads had to disguise themselves on a commuter train, prompting Winthorpe to take on the identity of a Jamaican man.
Aykroyd put on Blackface, donned a dreadlock wig, smoked a large marijuana blunt, and spoke with a fake Jamaican accent while talking to Murphy, disguised as a Cameroonian exchange student. Aykroyd stated that he and Murphy improvised much of that scene together, and while it was funny at the moment, it wouldn’t be embraced in today’s culture.
“I was in Blackface in that film, and I probably couldn’t get away with it now,” Aykroyd said. He went on to say that Murphy’s Black entourage of people didn’t find it offensive on set while filming it and felt it was a “good comic beat” that was appropriate for the story the film told; he would do things differently if they filmed “Trading Places” in present time.
“I probably wouldn’t choose to do a Blackface part, nor would I be allowed to do it. I probably wouldn’t be allowed to do a Jamaican accent, white face or Black,” Aykroyd continued. “In these days we’re living in, all that’s out the window. I would be hard-pressed to do an English accent and get away with it. They’d say, ‘Oh, you’re not English; you can’t do it.’”
Aykroyd, one of the original cast members of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” recalled working with Murphy on “SNL” when the film was shot and released. “Trading Places” was only Murphy’s second film, but Aykroyd could see he was evolving into something special.
“[Eddie] was just starting out and developing his comedic gift and comedic voice,” Aykyord said of Murphy. “To see and be a part of a talent emerging like that was part of film history.”
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