My poorly judged joke prevented filming, says Bill Murray

Actor Bill Murray said a poorly judged joke led to him being accused of misconduct, prompting the suspension of his latest film.

In an interview with CNBC, the chastised 71-year-old broke his silence on the “inappropriate behavior” allegations leveled against him and admitted that what he thought was funny when he was young is no longer acceptable today.

“I did something that I thought was funny and it wasn’t received that way,” he said during financial conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting.

“The film studio wanted to do the right thing, so they wanted to review, investigate, and stopped production.”

Murray admitted he’d been thinking about the incident for the past few weeks and hoped he’d learned his lesson.

“We’re talking about it. I think we’ll make peace with that, I’m very optimistic about that,” he added.

The actor whose film career has included leading roles Lost in Translation, Ghostbusters and Caddyshacksuggested that the incident reflected how humor has evolved over the years, offending jokes once considered acceptable.

He said: “It was quite an education for me.

“The world is different from when I was a child. What I always found funny as a little kid isn’t necessarily the same as what’s funny now.

“Things change and times change, so it’s important for me to find out. I think it’s a sad dog that can’t learn anymore. I don’t want to be that sad dog and I don’t intend to.”

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Murray was set to star alongside Seth Rogan to be mortal – a film version of surgeon Atul Gawande’s non-fiction book on end-of-life care.

The film was in the middle of production when work was halted.

The actor described the incident as a “disagreement” with a woman who worked on the production.

Details were not disclosed. Murray said: “From now on we’re talking and we’re trying to make peace with each other.

“We’re both professionals, we like each other’s work. We like each other I think and if we can’t really understand and trust each other then there’s no point in continuing to work together or making the film.” (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd. 2022)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]