Halloween 2020: The Weeknd Kills It as The Nutty Professor

While Halloween definitely looks different this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, quite a lot of people have found ways to showcase their creative costumes. A fair share of celebrities are among that list, including fan-favorite musician The Weeknd. The Weeknd – whose real name is Abel Tesfaye – took to social media over the weekend to show off his costume, which is inspired by Sherman Klump, the character Eddie Murphy played in The Nutty Professor franchise. Tesfaye showed off the costume in a series of photos and videos, including one of him dancing to his own music at some sort of party.

The costume has gotten quite a lot of attention, with three out of the four of Tesfaye’s posts earning over 1 million likes on social media.

This costume comes at an interesting time for The Nutty Professor as a whole, as it was announced earlier this year that a new reboot of the franchise is currently in the works. The project will hail from Project X Entertainment, with James Vanderbilt, William Sherak, and Paul Neinstein all serving as producers on the film. A writer and director for the project has yet to be announced.

The original Nutty Professor film premiered in 1963, and was loosely inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic story Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. That film starred Jerry Lewis as a down-on-his-luck scientist who wanted to improve his social standing, so he drank a potion that temporarily turned him into the handsome and oftentimes obnoxious character Buddy Love. The franchise then got rebooted in 1996 with Murphy in the lead role — as well as the roles of the main character’s family members. Murphy starred as the character in both 1996’s The Nutty Professor and 2000’s Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, while Lewis returned to the franchise in 2008, with the direct-to-video animated film The Nutty Professor: Facing the Fear. Lewis also directed a musical stage production of the franchise, which debuted in 2012.

What do you think of The Weeknd’s Nutty Professor-themed Halloween costume? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!