While some fans consider Steve Harvey to be the funniest man on the planet, there are
others who think his behavior both on- and off-screen is no laughing matter.
From controversial jokes to embarrassing screw-ups, here's a look at the shady side of Steve Harvey.
He treats his staff like crap
On the heels of his talk show's big move from Chicago to greater Los Angeles, Harvey reportedly
sent a shocking memo to his new staff demanding to be treated like royalty.
"There will be no meetings in my dressing room.
No stopping by or popping in.
NO ONE.
Do not come to my dressing room unless invited.
Do not open my dressing room door.
IF YOU OPEN MY DOOR, EXPECT TO BE REMOVED.
"My security team will stop everyone from standing at my door who have the intent to
see or speak to me.
I want all the ambushing to stop now.
That includes TV staff.
You must schedule an appointment."
Harvey claimed he was "seeking more free time for me throughout the day," explaining that
the memo was sent to fix the lenient, open-door policy he permitted during his show's run
in Chicago.
He reiterated that defense a few days later while discussing the leaked letter with Entertainment
Tonight.
"I'm in my makeup chair, they walk in the room.
I'm having lunch, they walk in, they don't knock.
I'm in the hallway, I'm getting ambushed by people with friends that come to the show
and having me sign this and do this.
I just said, 'Wait a minute.'
And in hindsight, I probably should've handled it a little bit differently."
Memo to Los Angeles: good luck!
He was involved in a bizarre lawsuit
In November 2015, Harvey was sued for allegedly backing out of plans to lease a private jet
midway through more than $400,000 worth of renovations he had reportedly requested on
the aircraft.
According to TMZ, his requests included "custom carpet, a reconfiguration of the interior
cabin from 16 seats to 14 seats, custom seat design and new upper and lower cabin sidewalls."
Harvey settled the lawsuit.
But about a year later, he sued the Federal Aviation Title Company in an attempt to recoup
the $250,000 he had put in escrow to lease the private jet.
The money was awarded to Harvey by default after the FATC failed to respond to his lawsuit.
His relationship advice stinks
Steve Harvey has made so many eyebrow-raising comments about men, women, and dating over
the years that people have put together entire YouTube videos dedicated to them.
Indeed, whether he's claiming that people who don't believe in God are idiots or that
men cheat because women allow them to, Harvey has gotten into hot water for, basically everything
he says...ever.
For example, while responding to a viewer question on Good Morning America about why
men go for unintelligent and shallow women, Harvey offered a response that remains baffling
— to put it kindly:
"If a guy is out for one thing, it's best to go for shallow, unintelligent women.
You don't want to break this news to a really bright woman.
'Hey, I just want to do something to you this evening.'
You don't want to tell that to an intelligent person, because she'll tell you where to take
all of that.
You want to find somebody shallow, really simple, unintelligent, that you can run this
by and they'll sit there and go, 'Wow!
That sounds great!'"
Yikes.
He's still feuding with his ex-wife
For someone who loves to dish out relationship advice, Harvey has his fair share of relationship
baggage.
Take his second ex-wife, Mary Lee Harvey, for example.
In 2011, Steve had to obtain a court injunction against Mary Lee after she posted a number
of videos on YouTube alleging, among other things, that Steve had turned their son against
her and left her homeless.
Despite the injunction, Mary Lee continued to threaten her ex-husband's reputation.
In 2013, she was sent to jail for 30 days after leaking sealed documents to the media
about an incident in which Steve was accused of beating their son and later cleared.
In May 2017, Mary Lee sued Steve for $60 million for "child endangerment, torture, conspiracy
against rights, kidnapping, murder, breach of contract and intentional infliction of
emotional distress" connected to their nasty 2005 divorce.
Steve's lawyer slammed the allegations in the lawsuit, claiming, "the Complaint is meritless,
frivolous and the allegations are completely false.
We will vigorously defend/counterclaim against the Complaint."
The Miss Universe disaster
In December 2015, Harvey experienced arguably his biggest PR disaster when he mistakenly
read the wrong name when announcing the winner of the 2015 Miss Universe pageant on live
television.
Harvey apologized profusely for the mistake, which he later blamed on a whole lot of miscommunication.
"I felt horrible for both of you.
It's so much I want to say but I'm truly sorry, you know."
In the immediate aftermath of the live-TV flub, sources for Radar Online alleged that
Harvey turned the pageant down twice, and only took the gig at the last minute, which
left everyone involved in the production scrambling to prepare.
Even worse, cameras for TMZ reportedly spotted Harvey drinking and playing at the high-end
roulette tables mere hours before the pageant was set to begin instead of actually getting
ready for the gig.
Not great.
How not to tell a joke
Harvey offended members of the Asian community with a cringe-worthy segment that aired on
his talk show in January 2017.
During the segment, he cracks a few awkward jokes while poking fun at the book How to
Date a White Woman: A Practical Guide for Asian Men.
"That's one page too!"
Excuse me?
Do you like Asian men?
No?
Thank you."
And then he doubles down.
"I don't eat what I can't pronounce."
In response, Fresh Off the Boat author Eddie Huang wrote an op-ed for The New York Times
titled, "Hey, Steve Harvey, Who Says I Might Not Steal Your Girl?"
But Harvey painted himself as the victim, telling reporters, "I ain't been laughing
that much over the past few days.
They're kinda beating me up on the internet right now for no reason.
But, you know, that's life, ain't it?"
He finally tweeted an apology, so… all's well that tweets well?
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