Steve Harvey Apologizes for His Joke About Asian Men: ''The Humor Was Not Meant With Malice or Disrespect Whatsoever''

Television host releases statement regarding offensive comment

By Kendall Fisher Jan 17, 2017 4:56 PMTags
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Steve Harvey is issuing an apology for an offensive comment.

The television personality targeted a joke toward Asian men during The Steve Harvey Show on Friday, which has sparked quite a bit of controversy. He showed the 2002 book cover of How to Date a White Woman: A Practical Guide for Asian Men to his audience, before asking, "Excuse me, do you like Asian men?" And answering, "No, thank you."

He continued, saying if there was a book titled How to Date a Black Woman: A Practical Guide [for] Asian Men, it would be one page. "You like Asian men? I don't even like Chinese food," he said. "It don't stay with you no time. I don't eat what I can't pronounce."

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Thus, on Tuesday, Harvey released a statement on Twitter in apology over his comments.

"I offer my humblest apology for offending anyone, particularly those in the Asian community, last week," he wrote. "It was not my intention and the humor was not meant with any malice or disrespect whatsoever."

The apology comes a little over a year after Harvey made his infamous mistake while hosting Miss Universe 2015 during which he accidentally crowned Miss Columbia Ariadna Gutiérrez when the winner was actually Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.

"I'd like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia & Miss Philippines for my huge mistake. I feel terrible," the Family Feud host posted on Twitter shortly after the show. "Secondly, I'd like to apologize to the viewers at that I disappointed as well. Again it was an honest mistake. I don't want to take away from this amazing night and pageant. As well as the wonderful contestants. They were all amazing."