Eddie Murphy Declines to Play Bill Cosby for SNL’s 40th Anniversary

The highly successful 40^th anniversary of the long-running comedy sketch, Saturday Night Live, brought about the idea of having Eddie Murphy play Bill Cosby at one point.

According to a report by WhoSay, Eddie Murphy's first appearance on Saturday Night Live in 30 years was awkward and stilted, but according to Norm Macdonald, it could have been a whole lot different. Over the course of several tweets posted on Wednesday, Macdonald explained that there was, at one point, the idea to include Murphy in theSNL 40 version of "Celebrity Jeopardy" as Bill Cosby.

As Macdonald wrote, he was disappointed "Celebrity Jeopardy" had become about celebrity impressions for the SNL 40 special. But writer Steve Higgins thought having Murphy mimic Cosby would help tie it all together.

Macdonald relayed a bunch of other anecdotes about the week, including that Bill Murray almost didn't make the show because of a golf tournament, before finishing out the Murphy story:

Without Murphy's involvement, the sketch wound up happening with Kenan Thompson in the role of Cosby.

Murphy and Cosby memorably crossed paths before. During the 1987 concert film "Raw," Murphy recalled how Cosby chastised him about using foul language in his stand-up routine.

UPDATE: In a statement to NBC News, Bill Cosby said he was pleased Eddie Murphy turned down a chance to impersonate him during Sunday's SNL 40 anniversary special. "I am very appreciative of Eddie and I applaud his actions," Cosby said through a spokesperson.