Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall said they were 'forced' to cast a white actor in 'Coming to America'

• Murphy and Hall said Paramount Pictures was concerned with the cast in "Coming to America."
• Hall said they were given a list of three white actors to choose from for the 1988 film.
• They chose the stand-up comic Louie Anderson, who plays Maurice in the movie and the sequel.

Despite Eddie Murphy being one of the biggest comics in the world when he made "Coming to America" in the late 1980s, it turns out he still had to obey studio requests to get the movie made.

While on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" promoting the forthcoming sequel, "Coming 2 America," Murphy and his costar Arsenio Hall revealed that the comic Louie Anderson was cast because Paramount Pictures wanted a white comic in the 1988 movie.

"I love Louie, but I think we were forced to put Louie in it," Hall told Jimmy Kimmel when the host asked how Anderson got in the movie. "We were forced to put in a white person."

Murphy, who plays Prince Akeem in the film, looking to find an American woman to marry instead of the bride chosen by his father, said the studio was concerned that the cast was all Black.

"They were like, 'There has to be a white person in the movie,'" he said. "I was like, 'What?' So who was the funniest white guy around? We knew Louie was cool, so that's how Louie got in the movie."

Insider contacted Paramount for comment but did not get an immediate response.

"It was official," Hall said, adding that Paramount sent them a list of white comics to choose from. "I had a list. They gave me a list with three white guys. They said, 'Who would you rather work with?' I said Louie."

Anderson, who was a well-known stand-up comic in the 1980s and went on to win an Emmy in 2016 for "Baskets," played Maurice, one of the employees at McDowell's. He returns in the sequel.

"Coming 2 America," which is scheduled for release on Amazon Prime on Friday, follows Prince Akeem and his best friend, Semmi (Hall), as they return to Queens, New York, so Akeem can find the son he never knew he had.