Eddie Murphy has revealed that he left the 2007 Academy Awards early not out of anger over losing the Best Supporting Actor award for Dreamgirls, but to avoid becoming the object of sympathy from fellow attendees. In a recent interview, the actor described feeling uncomfortable after losing to Alan Arkin and receiving consoling gestures, including one from Clint Eastwood. Murphy also shared that he had predicted Arkin's win months in advance.
Eddie Murphy's departure from the 2007 Oscars after his Best Supporting Actor nomination for Dreamgirls sparked speculation at the time that he was upset by the loss. However, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly to promote his Netflix documentary Being Eddie, Murphy set the record straight. He explained that after Alan Arkin won for Little Miss Sunshine, people began approaching him with condolences, patting his shoulder in sympathy.
“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 said. “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.'”
Murphy portrayed James “Thunder” Early, a troubled R&B-soul singer inspired by figures like Marvin Gaye and James Brown, in the 2006 musical drama directed by Bill Condon. The film, drawing from Motown and The Supremes, featured co-stars including Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson, Beyoncé Knowles, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose, and Keith Robinson. Dreamgirls earned eight Oscar nominations, winning for Best Supporting Actress (Hudson) and Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, though Murphy did not stay to see Hudson's victory or the film's song medley performance.
He was nominated alongside Jackie Earle Haley for Little Children, Djimon Hounsou for Blood Diamond, and Mark Wahlberg for The Departed. Murphy had foreseen Arkin's triumph after an early screening arranged by former DreamWorks CEO Jeff Katzenberg six months before the film's release. “I turned to Jeff afterwards and I said, ‘Now that performance right there is one of those performances that will steal somebody’s Oscar.’ I said those exact words. I was like, ‘He could steal somebody’s Oscar,’ then he stole mine,” Murphy recounted, later adding lightheartedly, “No, I don’t feel like he stole mine.”
Arkin, who passed away in 2023 at age 89, was praised by Murphy as an “amazing actor” deserving of the award for his career. Murphy reflected on the unpredictable nature of Oscars, noting factors like campaigning and past work play a role beyond performance quality. In Being Eddie, he expressed frustration with attending award shows only to lose, calling it a “mindf–k” after getting dressed up.