March 12, 1983: Buckwheat Is Assassinated on "Saturday Night Live"

March 12, 1983, 40 years ago: Buckwheat is assassinated on Saturday Night Live. This was a big deal at the time.

Eddie Murphy had been playing a grownup version of Buckwheat, the black kid with the speech impediment and the upswept hair in the Our Gang serials from 1938 to 1944, on the show. His use of "O-tay!" instead of "Okay!" briefly became a popular catchphrase.

The actor who played Buckwheat, William Thomas Jr., billed as "Billie Thomas," later served in the U.S. Army, was decorated for his service, and returned to the film industry as an editor. On July 31, 1980, he was one of several former Our Gang (rebranded as The Little Rascals for later broadcasts on television) members honored at a convention in Los Angeles. But just a few weeks later, on October 10, he died of a heart attack. He was only 49 years old.

It was only after Thomas' death that Murphy began playing the character. What Thomas would have thought can only be speculated. His son, also named William Thomas Jr., became the executor of his father's estate and image, and raised no objection. But former co-star George "Spanky" McFarland hated it. Murphy got tired of it, too, and decided to "kill the character off." SNL executive producer Dick Ebersol agreed.

Despite being at night, instead of in daylight, the scene was staged to resemble the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley 2 years earlier: Murphy, in character as Buckwheat, walks out of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, which includes NBC headquarters and the studio where SNL is taped, and waves to a crowd, saying "I wub noo!" (Meaning, "I love you!")

Then, as Buckwheat approaches his limousine, just as Hinckley shouted out, "Mr. President!" a voice is heard yelling, "Hey, Mr. Wheat!" Buckwheat turns, with his hands still up, and says, "Yes?" And he is shot. A bodyguard shoves him into the limo, which speeds off toward a hospital, while several people jump on the shooter.

SNL shot two versions, one with "blood squibs" and one without. They decided to go with the one without the squibs, because the one with the squibs looked too real, and they didn't want to actually scare anyone.

Castmember Joe Piscopo, known for his impersonation of Frank Sinatra, played ABC News Nightline host Ted Koppel, reporting on the story, and playing it absolutely straight, as if this was a real story happening in real time. He showed the shooting over and over, including in slow motion, as had been done with Reagan's shooting. Finally, he made the tragic announcement: "We have just received word: Buckwheat is dead!" Again and again, in slow motion, the shooting was repeated, and the audience got the joke.

As the character was taken in for emergency surgery, Mary Gross came on to play Alfalfa, another of the Our Gang characters. "His" reaction was, "I'm alarmed, and confused, and I don't know what to say." Ironically, the actual actor who played Alfalfa, Carl Switzer, was murdered, at his home in Los Angeles, on January 21, 1959. He was only 31.

Later, during the show's regular Saturday Night News segment -- it had originally been, and would again, be Weekend Update -- anchor Brad Hall (now better known for being the husband of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, also then an SNL castmember -- did the show as if it was a complete story, and posted reactions from famous people, who were obviously talking about someone else:

* Actor Charlton Heston, by then also known for his gun advocacy: "Well, he was one of the best we had, maybe the best America had had in this century." (He may have been talking about actor Henry Fonda, who died 7 months earlier.)

* Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: "He was tough. He had a good sense of humor." (He may have been talking about Soviet dictator Leonid Brezhnev, who died 4 months earlier; or Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, assassinated in late 1981.)

* President Reagan: "Nancy and I feel that we have lost a close and dear friend." (He could also have been talking about Fonda, or Sadat. In spite of their respective positions, he never met Brezhnev.)

* Pope John Paul II (graphics on the screen suggesting a translation from the original Italian -- yes, I know he was Polish, but he was speaking to Italians): "The entire world mourns the loss of this great humanitarian. Buckwheat was a man of peace. We all know how he died. But, perhaps some of you haven't seen the videotape. Let's take a look." (That made the live audience at 30 Rockefeller Plaza crack up.)

And every minute or so, they squeezed in a "commercial": "Buckwheat shot. America stunned. Brought to you by Texxon. Life goes on, and Texxon is there." "Emergency surgery. The world waits. Brought to you by Texxon. Life goes on, and Texxon is there." "Buckwheat dead. America mourns. Brought to you by Texxon. Life goes on, and Texxon is there." Finally, they closed the sketch with, "Buckwheat dead. America mourns. Brought to you by Texxon. Life goes on, and Texxon is there. Because Buckwheat would have wanted it that way."

The following week, Buckwheat's funeral was shown, again with Piscopo as Koppel covering it. It parodied Brezhnev's funeral, with soldiers doing a slow goose-step. But it also showed American soldiers firing a cannon in salute, probably taken from Reagan's Inauguration in 1981.

Among the simulated guests were First Lady Nancy Reagan, but not the President; and Diana, Princess of Wales, but not her husband, Prince Charles, or his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Also, in footage clearly taken from Sadat's funeral: Former Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter; plus Kissinger, and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel.

They also showed footage of the candlelight vigil held in Central Park for former Beatle John Lennon after his assassination, in 1980, saying that this was for Buckwheat. (The entire Our Gang cast combined didn't have the impact that Lennon had.)

Piscopo/Koppel then announced that the police had identified the assassin. Like John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman, he was always identified with all three names: John David Stutts. Murphy did double duty as victim and assassin.

As police led Stutts into court for his arraignment, a reporter asked him why he did it. Parodying David Berkowitz, the 1976-77 serial killer known as the Son of Sam, "Well, I had to kill him, because my dog told me he was the Antichrist."

Koppel introduced a clinical psychologist, asking him why people kill famous people. The psychologist said it was to become famous themselves, "and, unfortunately, certain irresponsible people in the media are only too eager to turn these assassins into instant celebrities." Koppel then introduced a profile of Stutts.

Everybody interviewed on the subject, including his former pastor, said Stutts was "Quiet, kind of a loner," which is what people always tend to say about famous killers, whether their victims are famous or not. But Koppel asked them all, "Do you think he killed Buckwheat?" They all said, "Oh, yes!" showing they were not surprised about his apparent guilt. His high school yearbook showed him to be President of the Future Assassins of America, and his class voted him "Most Likely to Kill Buckwheat."

Then, they parodied the shooting of Oswald in 1963, just 2 days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Stutts was even dressed like Oswald, wearing a sweater, and the shooter was wearing a hat like the one Jack Ruby wore while shooting Oswald. Stutts' killer was not identified on the air.

There was also a new "commercial": "Brought to you by Mutual Life: Because you could die tomorrow." The last time, the announcer added, "Just like John David Stutts."

In spite of the "death," and having tired of the character, Murphy has brought Buckwheat back a few times.