Steve Harvey goofs up names at the Miss Universe pageant, draws flak for cartel joke
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Many would recall that Harvey had made a similar faux pas during the 2015 Miss Universe pageant when he had accidentally announced the wrong winner of the contest.
Popular TV host and comedian Steve Harvey did it again. Harvey announced the wrong winner of the National Costume Contest during the 2019 Miss Universe pageant.
During the event which took place in Atlanta on Sunday, Harvey announced, “Here’s a look at the winner, Philippines,” while Miss Malaysia Shweta Sekhon stood next to him.
He announced the winner as Miss Philipiness but started discussing the costume of Miss Malaysia who was standing next to him. Soon, Shekhon grabbed the mic and stated, "It's not Philippines, it's Malaysia."
"Well... let me explain something to you. I just read that in a teleprompter," he explained soon enough. "You all quit doing this to me. I can read this. They are trying to fix it now. This is what they did to me back in 2015. This is Malaysia. I really love this National Costume of Malaysia. This is crazy," the 62-year-old host added. See photos of the event here
Turns out, Harvey was in fact correct in declaring Miss Philippines as the winner. A source stated that Miss Malaysia wasn't aware that Miss Philippines would be announced first and “jumped the gun” when Harvey started with that news.
The official twitter handle of Miss Universe later confirmed that Miss Philippines was indeed the winner. “[Steve Harvey] had it right: Miss Universe Philippines Gazini Ganados is the winner of the #MissUniverse2019 National Costume competition! Congratulations, Gazini.”
.@IAmSteveHarvey had it right: Miss Universe Philippines Gazini Ganados is the winner of the #MissUniverse2019 National Costume competition! Congratulations, Gazini. 🎉 pic.twitter.com/L8DpAyNL9I
— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) December 9, 2019
Many would recall that Harvey had made a similar faux pas during the 2015 Miss Universe pageant when he had accidentally announced the wrong winner of the contest. The host had declared that Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutiérrez as the winner instead of the actual winner Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.
On Sunday though, Harvey made more than one goof up. The host while announcing the Top 20 finalist, called out Miss Columbia and even displayed his card to the audience to assure them that he had got the right name. When Miss Columbia laughed and said she had forgiven his previous mistake, Harvey said, "You’ve forgiven me. They haven’t — the cartel, they’re not handling it the same way.”
The cartel comment, naturally, did not go down well with many Columbians as they lashed at Harvey on Twitter.
steve harvey just had to make a joke about cartels when talking about colombia pic.twitter.com/o0uTKH3Muf
— dayana🦋 (@dayanalvz) December 9, 2019
Hey @IAmSteveHarvey. We might forgive you for a mistake that happened years ago. But making a joke, in worldwide television about cartels and colombia's violent history is not OK. We do not condone that. It's not funny. It's hurtful. It's shameful. We expect an apology from you.
— Crimson Crazed (@crimsoniscrazy) December 9, 2019
Steve Harvey uses cartel joke with Miss Colombia.#MissUniverse2019 #MissColombia pic.twitter.com/D7ODZ21vlx
— JM🅥 (@ItsJM__) December 9, 2019
That steve harvey comment about colombia and the CARTEL was disrespectuful! He should apologize! Thats not what we are, our artists, our landscapes, our athlets can speak LOUDER @MissUniverse #missuniverse2019 #MissColombia
— Pau ➕🖤 (@pautorrescol) December 9, 2019
The contest had contestants from 90 countries and Miss South Africa ultimately won the crown.