Steve Harvey recently made an appearance at Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast where he recanted his Miss Universe 2015 fumble. Though he acknowledges that the name mix-up incident was extremely ‘painful’, he reveals how the crowning mistake was not entirely his fault.
Harvey put himself in the spotlight after he incorrectly declared Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutiérrez, the first runner-up, as the winner. When Gutiérrez was well into her on-stage celebration, Harvey returned to announce Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach as the actual winner.
“It was a painful night. I didn’t know how bad the mistake was,” said Harvey. The ‘Family Feud’ host then apologized for his mistake and explained how the fumble happened at his end. Describing it as one of the ‘lowest points’ in his career, Harvey recalled how he took full ownership of the blunder and sought apology for the same.
To clear the air, he showed the card to the audience so that they could see what was written on it. Steve revealed that during rehearsal they would only read two names: The winner (Miss Universe) and the second-runner up. The chaos was triggered by the last moment alterations which required him to read three names on stage.
I honestly didn’t make any mistakes, he continued. I read off the teleprompter as they instructed me in my ear. I displayed the third name given to me from the stage on the card, but I had my thumb on it, so it wasn’t a third name.
We all can’t forget about when Steve Harvey named the wrong miss universe #TwitterMomentOfTheDecade pic.twitter.com/XGbLDLeRc1
— Ulrick JP, PT, DPT?? (@Ricky1256) December 4, 2019
Before WME/IMG bought the pageant from Donald Trump, Atlanta Black Star claims that the custom called for the first and second runners-up to be disclosed before the winner. Harvey informed Sharpe that the new showrunners changed the order because they believed it to be less dramatic.
“I should have waited for the newspaper to report it the next day,” added Harvey regretting every bit of his action that involved taking full blame for what happened.
Harvey recently made a blunder at the 2019 Miss Universe pageant as well. Opening up about the incident, Harvey said that the consequences of the disaster were severe. The Colombian and American media criticised him in front of the general public.
In an odd mix-up, host Harvey announced the national costume contest winner, and after announcing the winner and displaying a picture of Miss Philippines Gazini Ganados in costume, Harvey said, “This is it right here.” He then presented the competitor standing next to him, who was obviously wearing a different outfit from what had just been displayed on screen.
