Steve Harvey has found himself at the center of another controversy. The Steve Harvey Morning Show host, 60, took a call from a listener living in Flint, Michigan, and the two quickly got into a heated discussion.
When the caller told Harvey, who lived in Cleveland as a child, that the city didn’t “deserve jack” following the Cavaliers’ NBA finals loss to the Golden State Warriors, the Family Feud host took offense to the comment and responded by joking about the Flint water crisis.
“You from Flint?” Harvey reportedly asked, according to USA Today. “That’s why ya’ll ain’t even got clean water. When was the last time you touched water and it didn’t have lead in it?” According to a separate listener’s audio recording of the conversation, Harvey’s coworkers can be heard telling the host to “reel it in,” but the comedian continued to bring up the crisis.
“He’s going to call in, say Cleveland don’t deserve jack, and he over there bathing in all that silver water,” Harvey said before dismissing the caller by saying, “Enjoy your nice brown glass of water.”
Harvey has faced backlash in recent months. The Steve Harvey Show host sent a memo to his daytime staffers in May with a list of strict rules about interacting with him on set. “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,” he wrote. “Do not wait in any hallway to speak to me. I hate being ambushed. Please make an appointment.”
Harvey later explained the memo to Entertainment Tonight. “I could not find a way to walk from the stage to my dressing room, to sit in my makeup chair, to walk from my dressing room to the stage or to just sit and have lunch without somebody just walking in,” he said, defending himself. “I’ve always had a policy where, you know, you can come and talk to me — so many people are great around here, but some of them just started taking advantage of it.”
