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Drew Barrymore Confirms What We Suspected All Along About Bill Murray's On-Set Behavior

Bill Murray has been one of the biggest names in the film world for the better part of four decades — rising to prominence for his comedic work on "Saturday Night Live" from the late 1970s to the early '80s. This tenure on the small screen propelled him to superstardom, allowing him to shine as a leading man in such productions as "Scrooged," "Ghostbusters," "Groundhog Day," and countless others. Not to mention, his presence in recent Wes Anderson projects as well as the "Zombieland" franchise, among others, maintains his popularity to this day.

Be that as it may, at the end of the day, Bill Murray is more than the famous characters he embodies at the movies. He's a person with a life away from the bright lights of Hollywood, capable of feeling and expressing emotion outside of those asked of him on the pages of a script. In that same vein, the way he interacts with people when the cameras aren't rolling doesn't always reflect the person he is when they are. A prime example of this comes in the form of his flaming behind-the-scenes outburst directed at Lucy Liu during the filming of 2000's "Charlie's Angels."

Now over 20 years removed from the incident, Drew Barrymore shed some light on the events of that day and how she reacted to it — candidly explaining the reality of Bill Murray's on-set behavior.

Bill Murray isn't great at keeping his emotions in check

For those unfamiliar with the story, according to Lucy Liu (via The Hollywood Reporter), Bill Murray arrived at the shoot of "Charlie's Angels" one day in something of a foul mood. He wasted little time letting his frustrations loose on the cast before targeting Liu specifically, throwing scathing insults at her in rapid succession. "It was unjust, and it was uncalled for. Some of the language was inexcusable and unacceptable," Liu stated in July of 2021, noting that she did what she had to do and stood up for herself against the abuse.

As far as Drew Barrymore's perspective goes, she backed up Liu's claims 100% and recalled that "Bill was just — you know, comedians can be a little dark sometimes." She continued, telling viewers of "The Drew Barrymore Show" that when Liu initially came out with the story, she prepared an entire video to further corroborate what happened. However, her "Charlie's Angel" co-star told her, "I don't need it," so she held off from sending it out into the world. "We all supported her and backed her up, and we moved forward," Barrymore said.

Thankfully, this moment didn't spill over into an extensive feud. Lucy Liu has stated she holds no ill-will towards Bill Murray for his misconduct, and they even reunited during a "Saturday Night Live" event on good terms. One can only hope that Murray has made strides to change his ways in the years since "Charlie's Angels" premiered and has hopefully gotten better at keeping his emotions under control.