College Basketball

Charlie Murphy's Prince basketball story is a legendary sports moment

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:45 p.m. ET

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Sports Illustrated, Dan Gartland/Sports Illustrated via Extra Mustard

When I heard that Charlie Murphy had died, the first thing I thought of was his classic Chappelle’s Show story about playing basketball with Prince. He was a great standup and an actor with dozens of credits but members of a certain generation will always remember him for his roles on Dave Chappelle’s sketch show. 

The recurring “Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories” segments were always a highlight and none stands out more than the one from Season 2, Episode 5, where Murphy recounts the tale of a late-night game of hoops against Prince. It’s iconic. 

(Just a word of warning, this is the uncensored version of the sketch.)

• Photos from Prince’s high school basketball career

The story might seem too good to be true but Murphy was telling the truth. Micki Free—yes, the same guy Murphy poked fun at in the sketch—told The Undefeated last year that it was all true. The bit about pancakes was apparently also true—Prince used that as the cover art for a single. 

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