Eddie Murphy reflects on Coming to America’s legacy: ‘Black people don’t get a lot of movies like this one’

‘Usually, when we see ourselves on the screen, it’s heavy things… rarely do we get some escapism’

Eddie Murphy has reflected on the legacy of his hit 1988 comedy Coming to America ahead of the sequel’s release.

In the original film, a light-hearted comedy, Murphy played Akeem Joffer, the prince of a fictional African nation who travels to the US to find a wife.

Speaking to Essence magazine, Murphy said: “The legacy of Coming to America is that it is unique, it’s rare. Black people, we don’t get a lot of movies like this one. Coming to America is a romantic fantasy comedy. Usually, when we see ourselves on the screen, it’s heavy things…

“Rarely do we get just to go see some escapism. Just to go see a movie and not have to think about any of that stuff.”

In the forthcoming sequel, Coming 2 America, Murphy’s character returns to America to meet his estranged son, played by Jermaine Fowler.

Murphy and Arsenio Hall in the original Coming to America (Paramount Pictures)

Though the original film featured an “all-Black cast”, said Murphy, it was not a movie about race.

“It’s not about, having a foot in your ass or ‘Wake up’ or ‘Keep hope alive’,” he said. “It’s none of those things that you can just go and sit back and watch the movie. And it’s about these people and it’s about somebody that’s trying to find true love.”

“It’s like a fantasy, like a fairy tale. And that’s the legacy of the movie that it’s one of the few romantic fairytales with Black people.”

Coming 2 America arrives on Amazon Prime Video on 5 March 2021.