Eddie Murphy “Giving A Ride” To A Sex Worker
Ellen Jaskol/Wikimedia CommonsEddie Murphy in 1984.
The last 1990s scandal on this list bears some resemblance to Hugh Grant’s. Early in the morning on May 2, 1997, the actor Eddie Murphy was pulled over after police observed a sex worker getting into Murphy’s car.
Twenty-year-old Shalimar Seiuli was known to be a transgender sex worker, according to the police in West Hollywood. But Murphy claimed that he was just being a “Good Samaritan” by offering Seiuli a ride.
“I saw this Hawaiian-looking woman and said, ‘What are you doing out here?’ She said, ‘I’m working,'” Murphy later said, according to PEOPLE in 1997. Murphy claimed he then offered Seiuli a ride and even tried to convince her to leave sex work. He said, “I said, ‘You shouldn’t be doing that [soliciting].’ And badda-bing… I’m never giving anyone a lift again.”
X (Formerly Twitter)Shalimar Seiuli, the American Samoan transgender sex worker picked up by Eddie Murphy.
Though Murphy was not charged with anything, some found it suspicious that the actor was driving down Santa Monica Boulevard at 4:45 a.m. Murphy claimed that he had only gone for a drive to battle insomnia. Meanwhile, police told PEOPLE that the area where he was driving was well known for having a presence of sex workers, especially transgender sex workers.
And Seiuli told a story that was very different from Murphy’s. She alleged that Murphy put two $100 bills on her leg and asked her if she liked wearing lingerie. She also said that he asked to see her in lingerie and asked her what kind of sex she liked before the authorities approached.
But Murphy — like Grant — ultimately weathered the storm of this scandal. Tragically, Seiuli wasn’t so lucky. She was found dead a little less than a year later on April 22, 1998. Bizarrely, she was discovered on the sidewalk just outside her apartment, wearing only lingerie. While police ruled her death an accidental fall, believing she had locked herself out of her apartment and fell while trying to reach her unit window, her loved ones were skeptical.
One of Seiuli’s friends said, “Unfortunately, the cops don’t want to investigate… to them, it’s just another hooker.”
After going back in time with these scandals from the 1990s, look through these 1990s pictures that perfectly capture what life was like at the end of the 20th century. Or, enjoy this gallery of 1990s fashion trends.
