NEW YORK • Eddie Murphy has a legendary Bill Cosby impression.

The actor performed it as a cast member on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the 1980s, so it seemed natural that he would bust it out when he returned to the show last Saturday and told jokes there for the first time in 35 years.

The bit was brief: Murphy noted he had 10 children and "if you had told me 30 years ago that I would be this boring stay-at-home house dad and Bill Cosby would be in jail, even I would have took that bet".

Then came that famous impression.

"Who's America's dad now?!" Murphy's Cosby declared.

Cosby, as Murphy had predicted last week, apparently did not find the joke very funny.

The disgraced comedian's publicist Andrew Wyatt criticised Murphy, calling him a "Hollywood Slave" in a statement.

Mr Wyatt wrote that Cosby "broke colour barriers in the Entertainment Industry", paving the way for other black, male comedians such as Murphy, Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart.

"It is sad that Mr Murphy would take this glorious moment of returning to SNL and make disparaging remarks against Mr Cosby," Mr Wyatt wrote.

"One would think that Mr Murphy was given his freedom to leave the plantation, so that he could make his own decisions; but he decided to sell himself back to being a Hollywood Slave."

Cosby, who is serving time in prison for sexual assault, has had a long and tumultuous relationship with Murphy, dating back to when Murphy was America's hottest rising comedian and Cosby was a huge star in the 1980s.

WASHINGTON POST