Bill Cosby is singing the praises of Eddie Murphy following Murphy’s refusal to portray the comic on the recent SNL 40th Anniversary special. The embattled comedian has–in recent months–been accused of sexually assaulting a number of women over the course of many years.

Eddie Murphy was asked to play Bill Cosby is a sketch for the SNL anniversary show, during which he would portray the comic as a Jeopardy contestant. Former cast mate Norm Macdonald was instrumental in trying to sign Murphy on for the sketch. In fact, Macdonald explained the entire situation days after the show aired, explaining why Eddie Murphy ultimately said no. He did so through a series of about 100 tweets.

Bill Cosby lauded Eddie Murphy via a statement released to NBC through a spokesperson.

Bill Cosby: "I am very appreciative of Eddie [Murphy] and I applaud his actions" http://t.co/saCGLnunIV

— billboard (@billboard) February 20, 2015

“I am very appreciative of Eddie and I applaud his actions,” Cosby said.

Eddie decides the laughs are not worth it. He will not kick a man when he is down.

— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) February 19, 2015

Eddie Murphy, I realize, is not like the rest of us. Eddie does not need the laughs.

— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) February 19, 2015

Eddie Murphy is the coolest, a rockstar even in a room with actual rockstars.

— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) February 19, 2015

Quite a week.

— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) February 19, 2015

Eddie Murphy still made a short appearance on the SNL40 special, but instead of portraying Bill Cosby, he simply talked about his time on the show and what it meant to him.

Do you think Eddie Murphy showed class by refraining from playing Bill Cosby? And if so, what does that say about Keenan Thompson, who wound up do a very short stint as Bill Cosby on the SNL40 show? You can see Thompson play Bill Cosby at about the 8-minute mark below.