Lucy Liu addresses long-rumored incident with Bill Murray: “I was not going to just sit there and take it”

After years of the story circling in Hollywood, Liu is ready to tell her side

By Tatiana Tenreyro | July 28, 2021 | 4:47pm

Film News Bill Murray

Lucy Liu addresses long-rumored incident with Bill Murray: “I was not going to just sit there and take it”

Lucy Liu Photo: Jamie McCarthy

While appearing on a recent episode of the Los Angeles Times’ Asian Enough podcast, Lucy Liu talked about a past altercation she had with Bill Murray while the two worked together on the set of Charlie’s Angels. There have been rumors about their alleged “shouting match” for years. According to one production assistant who was employed on set at the time, a last minute script change from Murray caused confusion among the actors and that’s allegedly what lead to the tension between Murray and Liu. During her Asian Enough appearance, Liu shared her version of what went down for the first time.

“As we’re doing the scene, Bill starts to sort of hurl insults, and I won’t get into the specifics, but it kept going on and on,” Liu recalled. “I was, like, ‘Wow, he seems like he’s looking straight at me.’I couldn’t believe that [the comments] could be towards me, because what do I have to do with anything majorly important at that time?

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“I literally do the look around my shoulder thing, like, who is he talking to behind me? I say, ‘I’m so sorry. Are you talking to me?’ And clearly he was, because then it started to become a one-on-one communication. Some of the language was inexcusable and unacceptable, and I was not going to just sit there and take it. So, yes, I stood up for myself, and I don’t regret it. Because no matter how low on the totem pole you may be or wherever you came from, there’s no need to condescend or to put other people down. And I would not stand down, and nor should I have.”

Liu didn’t say exactly which insults Murray used, but it certainly was harsh enough for her to call him out on it. However, Liu was made it clear that, after two decades, she’s made peace with Murray, saying, “I have nothing against Bill Murray at all. I’ve seen him since then at an SNL reunion, and he came up to me and was perfectly nice.”

Murray has yet to comment on Liu’s recent discussion of the incident, but he brought it up in a 2009 interview with The Times Of London, saying, “Look, I will dismiss you completely if you are unprofessional and working with me… When our relationship is professional, and you’re not getting that done, forget it.”

[Deadline]