Murphy's 1996 Apology

In reference to yesterday's post about Dreamgirls, many thanks to Rebecca in Toronto who dug up Eddie Murphy's 1996 apology for his anti-gay and AIDS routines, which is also published in tomorrow's Bay Area Reporter (in a little pre-release damage control, I suspect).

"I deeply regret any pain all this has caused. Just like the rest of the world, I am more educated about AIDS in 1996 than I was in 1981. I think it is unfair to take the words of a misinformed 21-year-old and apply them to an informed 35-year-old man. I know how serious an issue AIDS is the world over. I know that AIDS isn't funny. It's 1996 and I'm a lot smarter about AIDS now.

I am not homophobic and I am not anti-gay. My wife and I have donated both time and money to AIDS research. I've had people close to me die from the disease as well. I don't know a person who hasn't been touched in some way by this disease. Everybody knows somebody who is sick. Black people have been hit harder by this disease than any other group of people on the planet.''

Everybody will come to their own conclusion on this issue, but I think it's fairly settled for me. What do you think?