Eddie Murphy maintains his innocence after picking up 20-year-old transvestite prostitute

Jet, May 26, 1997

As Eddie Murphy continues to insist that he was only being a good Samaritan when a male prostitute was arrested in his Toyota Landcruiser, it was revealed the hooker has been incarcerated because he had broken probation by failing to take a mandatory HIV test, according to media reports.

The comic had said that he was only offering Atisone Seiuli, 20, a ride home.

He told People Magazine: "What people don't know is, for years and years at night I'd get in my car, I'd drive all over Manhattan, I'd give derelicts money. I'd stop and talk to homeless people. I'd go to the corners where there are prostitutes and give them $5,000 and $10,000 to go home and get off the street.

"When I'm doing something charitable, I'm not doing it for publicity.... When I do something, it's out of the goodness of my heart," he said.

Even though he was in a part of West Hollywood that is well-known as a hangout for male prostitutes, he said that he thought Atisone was a girl.

Regarding his wife Nicole, Murphy said, "(she) was shocked at first.... She was like, `Oh Eddie, this could get twisted in all kinds of ways.'"

He went on to tell People, "Since we've been married I haven't so much as touched another person. I go to work, and I come home." He said he was depressed the day after the incident. "This is an act of kindness that got turned into a f---ing horror show."