When we think of conscious, activist actors and celebrities, Eddie Murphy probably doesn’t spring to the front of your mind. He hasn’t exactly been very vocal about our struggle in the past, or has he?

We found a very powerful clip of Eddie Murphy speaking out against the Academy Awards and the Oscars for constantly snubbing black talent in 1988 at the 60th Academy Awards. In this clip, he tells the moment his white manager comes to him to inform him the Academy wanted him to present the Oscar for Best Picture.

Murphy says his first reaction was to say he wasn’t going. He says, “I’m not going because they haven’t recognized black people in motion picture industry.”
He goes on to say:

“Black people will not ride in the caboose of the society and we will not bring up the rear anymore….and I want them to recognize it.”