Arsenio Hall Says Paramount Originally Turned Down “Coming to America”
Arsenio Hall Says Paramount Originally Turned Down “Coming to America”
Virginia ChamleeThu, March 26, 2026 at 9:42 PM UTC
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Arsenio Hall, Coming to AmericaCredit: ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock; John Seakwood/Paramount/Auto Images/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock -
Arsenio Hall says the 1988 comedy Coming to America nearly didn't come to fruition
In a new interview, the actor and comedian says studio Paramount originally turned it down
Eddie Murphy starred in the beloved comedy as the Prince Akeem Joffer of the fictional Zamunda, while Hall appeared as his sidekick Semmi, who accompanies him on his journey to America to find a princess
Arsenio Hall says the 1988 comedy Coming to America nearly didn't come to fruition — because Paramount originally turned it down.
Hall, 70, opened up about the comedy in the latest episode SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, podcast.
Eddie Murphy starred in the beloved comedy as the Prince Akeem Joffer of the fictional Zamunda, while Hall appeared as his sidekick Semmi, who accompanies him on his journey to America to find a future queen. Both Murphy and Hall portrayed multiple characters in the film.
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Arsenio Hall and Eddie MurphyCredit: Bruce McBroom/Paramount/Auto Images/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
But while the film was a success, film studio's initially weren't interested.
"They turned Coming to America down," Hall said. "We went and pitched it at Paramount and they said, 'No, thank you.' And we were like, 'Give us some notes. What should we do? 'And they were like, 'We're not sure, but you know, it's a fish out of water. We've seen this a billion times.' "
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Hall added that the early version of the film pitched to Paramount didn't include all the other various characters Murphy ultimately played.
"And Coming to America at that time didn't have the barbershop. It didn't have the preacher. It didn't have Eddie as the old Jewish man," Hall said.
He added that eventually a Paramount executive did give the two notes. "He said, 'Everybody wants to see Eddie do characters again. Everybody misses SNL. How about if the people you meet in America are played by Eddie?' And I was sitting there saying, 'Could I get y'all a drink?' And it's Eddie that said, 'Hey, I saw Arsenio do stand up on this HBO thing. And he does this thing about Jesse Jackson. I know he can do a great preacher and we can come up with some barbers.' "
"And Eddie came up with the specific characters," Hall continued. "And I just sat there shaking because I'm like, I got to do characters with Eddie Murphy. That's like saying, you know, check Jordan. Lock that motherf--ker down. So I was a nervous wreck going into Coming to America."
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In 2021, a sequel to the film — Coming 2 America — debuted on Amazon Prime Video, 30 years after the original made its debut in theaters. Murphy and Arsenio Hall reprised their iconic roles in the sequel, with Hall saying an in earlier interview with Extra that the duo felt a lot of pressure from fans to make the film the best it could be. "Fans rolled up on you in the mall or on Twitter … 'Don't you f--k up our movie! Don't mess it up!' You have to go into it with all that in your head," Hall said.
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