Eddie Murphy wins first Emmy Award at Creative Arts ceremony

It took nearly four decades, but Eddie Murphy finally won an Emmy.

Murphy, who earned his first Emmy nomination 37 years ago for his performance on “Saturday Night Live,” took the award for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series during Saturday night’s Creative Arts Emmys ceremony, Entertainment Weekly reported. Murphy won for his performance as host of “SNL,” the first time he had hosted the show in 35 years, the magazine reported.

It was Murphy’s fifth Emmy nomination, People reported. He beat Fred Willard (“Modern Family”), Adam Driver (“Saturday Night Live”), Dev Patel (“Modern Love”), Brad Pitt (“Saturday Night Live”) and Luke Kirby (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”). This year’s nomination was Murphy’s first since 1999 when he was nominated for outstanding animated program (of an hour or less) for “The PJs," according to the magazine.

The Creative Arts Emmys honor the artistic and technical accomplishments across a variety of television genres, according to People. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the virtual ceremony was split into five separate nights.

The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards will air live from 8-11 p.m. EDT on ABC and will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

Murphy was not present to accept the award on Saturday, but the Television Academy tweeted his acceptance speech.

All nominees were asked to send in acceptance speeches, Variety reported. According to TV Academy President Maury McIntyre, about 96% of nominees participated.

“Thank you to everybody at the Emmys. Thank you so much for giving me an Emmy,” Murphy said in his speech. “I don’t have an Emmy. This is 40 years since I started ‘Saturday Night Live.’ This is my first Emmy, so thank you so much. I want to thank Lorne Michaels for putting this whole thing together and making this happen. And I want to thank the cast and the writers and the crew at ‘SNL.' This was a very, very special thing for me to come back and have the show turn out the way it did. I’m still floating from it. And thank you to everybody for giving me an Emmy.”

Murphy earned his first Emmy nomination in 1983 for best supporting actor in a comedy, for his work on “SNL” in 1983, Entertainment Weekly reported.

“It’s so special because it was 36 years to the day since I was on the show," Murphy told reporters in a video call. "For it to turn out the way it turned out and this on top of it ... It’s just really really special.”

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