Steve Harvey Gets Himself Into Some Trouble With ABC
Steve Harvey has found himself in hot water — though he's no stranger to controversy.
Who could ever forget the Miss Universe debacle from 2015? A disaster for the ages, the incident occurred when Harvey incorrectly announced Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutiérrez as the winner, when it was in fact Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach who had won. The "Family Feud" host was then forced to hit the stage and issue an awkward apology, prompting an impassioned response from audience members.
The controversy drew such a heated response that a Colombian law firm even threatened to sue, stating that, "The crown is an acquired right that cannot be taken away from us," per the Miami Herald (via Good Housekeeping). In 2020, Gutierrez opened up to E! News and noted her heartbreak. "In the beginning, I was devastated," she told the outlet. "It was my dream since I was a little girl. Imagine having your biggest dream come true, and then somebody just takes it away from you."
Despite the mess, Gutierrez doesn't hold it against Harvey. "I love him, and it wasn't his fault," she said, adding, "It was just an accident or destiny, whatever you want to call it. It wasn't ever about him. People think that I hated him... I never hated him." And though Miss Colombia doesn't hate Steve Harvey, the game show host is currently drawing the ire of another prospect more than half a decade later.
ABC clamps down on Steve Harvey not being 'politically correct'
The argument of political correctness (PC) sanitizing culture has been a heated topic of discussion for the better half of a decade. Over the years, we've seen PC culture get satirized in pop culture — namely through "South Park," when they introduced the character PC Principal in 2015. We've even seen the character of Dennis Reynolds complain about "the oppressive thumb of this new liberal Hollywood moral PC elite" in a 2019 episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," per the AV Club.
Now, Steve Harvey is feeling the heat. Hosting the new courtroom reality show "Judge Steve Harvey," the comedian recalled feeling a bit frivolous with his words behind the bench, prompting backlash from ABC. The controversy arose on the show when wife Kristin Jones took husband David Ronca to court for a "Bachelor Knot" party, to which Ronca filed a countersuit, per AOL. As a result, Harvey jokingly slammed Ronca as "the stupidest dude I've ever met."
Appearing on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Harvey recalled that ABC was not a fan of him calling Ronca "stupid." He revealed, "ABC had a little talk with me afterwards," with the network telling him, "Steve, it's not politically correct to call anybody stupid." In true Harvey fashion, he retorted, "Okay, well... what is he?" Harvey further asked, "You take your wife to court on TV, that's not stupid?" and noted "we're having a little struggle with the political correctness."