Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind the Making of “Coming to America”
The Lawsuit
In his comedy show “Raw” Eddie Murphy says the only way he could be sure a woman wasn’t just interested in his money would be to go to Africa and find one sitting “buck naked on a zebra.” The concept was reversed and obviously toned way down to create what we now know as Coming to America. But that didn’t stop people from claiming that the idea was stolen. In 1990, newspaper columnist, Art Buchwald filed a lawsuit against Paramount, saying the company optioned a similar idea from him in 1982. Paramount eventually settled and Buchwald received $150,000, though his attorney fees cost $200,000.