Tituss Burgess’s takedown of Andy Cohen is reaching epic proportions after he slammed talk show host Andy Cohen for criticizing Eddie Murphy.
Cohen apparently sparked the fire when asking Burgess about Murphy, his co-star in the new film Dolemite is my Name.
“Did you get to chat with him at all?” Cohen asked. “He was very problematic for the gays at one point when I was coming up.” Cohen’s question referred to homophobic jokes used by Murphy in his early stand-up routines.
Murphy has since apologized for his antigay routines.
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Related: Titus Burgess is NOT here for Andy Cohen’s “messy queen” questions
“He wasn’t problematic for Tituss, and we had a wonderful time,” Burgess answered. “We talked about Dreamgirls. He should’ve won the Oscar, I believe. He was great. Any troubles he may have had with gay people I guess are gone because he loved me.”
Burgess later took to Instagram, referring to Cohen as a “messy queen” for bringing up the issue. “[This is] NOT a place to rehash old rumors or bring a star negative press. Sunday was a display of ratchet behavior by a well-connected man having blatant disregard for one of his guests,” Burgess said.
Now, in an interview with Wendy Williams, Burgess again expressed his frustration with Cohen.
“I think that people misinterpret who they see on the screen sometimes and begin to have a relationship towards you based on misinformation,” Burgess told Williams. “I will not tolerate the dismantling of anyone’s legacy, especially not my own. Who we were speaking about has done a beautiful job being the comedic giant that he is. He has a wonderful movie coming out and I was not going to participate in talking about that. I said what I said.”
“I wasn’t going to waste time digging up something that happened a while ago,” Burgess added. “We’ve all moved past from it and we’ve all learned from it.”
For his part, Cohen was not backing down from a fair question about the legacy of homophobia.
Ask if he was feuding with Burgess, he replied: “He might be, I’m not.”
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bobbyjoe
Look, if a white comedian had used racist slurs and had denigrated a minority anywhere near as long as Murphy did in his career with the anti-gay slurs and AIDS jokes, nobody would bat an eye if even years later an interviewer asked a member of that minority what it was like to work with someone who had once been so publicly bigoted against them. I imagine, for example, any minority member who works with Mel Gibson should be prepared for such questions pretty much for the rest of Gibson’s life; but Gibson made his own bed on that with his bigoted behavior, so, you know, too bad. Do gay men lack the same self-respect that other minorities have and think, oh, okay, the (supposedly former) bigot’s reputation is far more fragile and worthy of protection than it is saying “no, pretending like it never happened helps make it seem like anti-gay bigotry was no big deal”?
I mean, how many comedians have we been asked to forgive for making violently homophobic “jokes” just because they later realized it didn’t make them look good so they got their publicist to write a carefully-worded apology? Unlike some of the other instances, Murphy’s wasn’t by a long shot just a one-time thing. It’s all over his stand-up career, and he only “apologized” when he wanted to Disney-fy his reputation.
You can see for yourself Murphy using these slurs and making AIDS jokes just by watching one of his 80s concert movies, which still pop up from time to time on Netflix and the like. But Titus just calls it “rumors” and talks about “misinformation” like no one really saw it and tries to be in a huff about how dare this be brought up because it might “dismantle [Murphy’s] legacy.” Well, part of Murphy’s legacy is that he was one of entertainment’s leading homophobic bigots for quite a long time. That’s always gonna be part of his reputation, whether he likes it or not. And while it serves Murphy not to bring that up, like Mel Gibson, he dug himself into that particular hole. So while I hate to agree with Andy Cohen on anything, not only was that a fair question to ask, but Titus really does not make himself look good working so hard to perfume Murphy’s garbage by saying it was just “rumors” and “misinformation.”
sebell75
I fully agree. I used to watch Eddie Murphy’s standup when I was a young, closeted guy, and it was attitudes like his, laughed at by millions, that kept a lot of us in the closet. So, no, just cause you apologize, doesn’t mean that no one can ever bring it up again. If you didn’t want people to talk about it, maybe you should have never made those jokes in the first place.
WashDrySpin
WOW you wrote all that…so I should respond…
LET IT GO!!!!
Brian
There’s more going on here. He points out that Andy Cohen is well-connected, and he produces his own shows. Eddie Murphy, of course, is globally famous. Tituss Burgess is successful in his own ways, but he’s not in a position to own and produce his own media like the other two, so it would be awkward for him to get in the middle of this. So what was the endgame here? If Tituss blabbers about how terrible Eddie is, then he would lose opportunities in the future. It’s tacky to pressure him to badmouth celebrities while he’s trying to build himself up.
Cam
Remember though LGBTQ people are ALWAYS expected to forgive and forget and not complain, because if we bring up bigotry then WE get attacked as the bully. (Eye Roll)
Although I still think it’s funny he called Andy a messy queen.
Brian
Eddie apologized 20 years ago. He should not have to still be defending himself, nor have other people defending him. If we are going to demand apologies from everyone for every sinful thing that ever passed from their lips, part of the process is moving on and not keep throwing it in their face. Otherwise what’s the point?
Toofie
Exactly. To keep bringing stuff up when it’s been addressed decades ago by Murphy is ridiculous.
armandov
I don’t think Cohen was asking anyone to apologize but rather bringing it up as in, this is how I remember him, is he still like that? It was out of curiosity. Cohen would be not doing his job as an interviewer if he didn’t ask that question since it was relevant.
Im not a huge Cohen fan but in this case, Tituss is making a major deal out of nothing.
MISTERJETT
most people never even knew about what Eddie did 20 years ago. now they do.
inbama
In that case, it was worth bringing up.
xanadude
These “feuds” are childish and boring. Time to grow up, ladies. And I agree with Brian– if we don’t want people to change their attitudes and then give them a 2nd chance, what’s the point?
Wicked Dickie
They are trying to destroy black legacies. They did it to Michael Jackson, and Bill Cosby. Did you guys cancel Bette Midler for going on Twitter and disparaging black people who support Trump by asking “how much were they paid to be in the ‘blackground'”?
notasjw
Give it a rest , your race baiting is tiresome!
Brian
Sort of. I think the larger point is that he’s trying to use one newcomer black man to tear down a different black man. The less-powerful guy is saying he doesn’t want to play that part. That’s fair.
I’ve had this situation in the workplace too (not the entertainment industry though). A powerful boss doesn’t want to do the legwork of investigating or the time it takes to prepare a proper report. The powerful person brings in the new people and asks for gossip. It’s definitely off-putting.
Kangol2
I’m sorry, but I didn’t have a problem with Bette Midler’s comment, which was actually on point. Trump or those close to him seek out and underwrite Black cons to serve as “blackground” for his rallies, despite the fact that he is a raging racist and has been for years. Midler wasn’t wrong, and she wasn’t and isn’t a racist. Pointing out racist and white supremacist behavior does not make a person a racist, it’s actually an attempt to address and help correct it.
Cam
Sweetie, it’s cute when this account tries to change it’s race so it can pretend to be outraged about a different topic.
Oh, and throwing Bill Cosby in there…..nice try.
Brian
Really? Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby are the examples you want to use? And you want to equate their rape and child molesting to a Bette Midler comment about Trump needing to hire black people to look like he has black supporters?
Wow.
Catholicslutbox
Andy has always been a messy queen.
RandomGuy
Andy is well known to be a creep.
jeff1370
Michael Jackson and bill cosby! They ruined their own legacies. Get a clue! They drugged and raped people. Bette said “blackground”. Equal?
RiBrad
Wow Tituss seems like hard work. From referring to himself in the third person to discussing his “legacy” when he’s been on one tv show of note. He really needs to chill. Andy’s question was totally fair enough, and so was Tituss’ answer, but I don’t understand why Tituss had to bring the pissy attitude. He was even fuming at Wendy for re-hashing it but was smart enough to realise he couldn’t start two feuds in two talkshows.
bigblackhose
Love Tituss