Steve Harvey’s Ups and Downs Over the Years: Miss Universe Mix-Up, Controversial Staff Memo and More

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Steve Harvey's Ups and Downs Over the Years: Miss Universe Mix-Up, Controversial Staff Memo and More

Steve Harvey is one of the most successful hosts in recent TV history, but he's dealt with plenty of ups and downs over the years. The West Virginia native began his comedy career in the early 1990s, working as a stand-up and hosting Showtime at the Apollo from 1993 until 2000. In 1997, he hit the road with fellow comedians Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and Bernie Mac for the mega-successful Kings of Comedy tour, which became a movie in 2000. The Daytime Emmy winner kept expanding his career into film, TV and radio throughout the early aughts, starting his syndicated radio program The Steve Harvey Morning Show in 2000 and making his narrative film debut in 2003's The Fighting Temptations. Eventually, the comedian had to give up his stand-up career because he was so busy juggling his radio show, his sitcom and more. In 2022, however, he claimed that he stopped performing stand-up because of he worried about "cancel culture" affecting his other work. [jwplayer V5qJ7Aze-zhNYySv2] “The only way I can do one more special is that it would have to be at the end of my television career, because it will end my television career,” he said during the Television Critics Association press tour in January 2022. “We’re in the cancel culture, and nobody — no stand-up alive that is sponsor-driven — can say anything he wants to." Despite putting his stand-up career on hold, Harvey has kept his plate full since the beginning of the 21st century. In 2010, he became the new host of the long-running game show Family Feud, and five years later, he signed on to helm a reboot of the spinoff Celebrity Family Feud. The Johnson Family Vacation star has also authored four books, including 2009's Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. Three years later, the book inspired the hit rom-com Think Like a Man, starring Regina Hall, Gabrielle Union, Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy and Taraji P. Henson. (Harvey had a cameo role as himself.) Though the BET Award winner already had a successful career by the time the movie debuted, he was still surprised that the self-help book became a film. “The possibility of it becoming a movie never even entered my mind. Not for a millisecond," he told Reuters in April 2012. "When I wrote the book, my goal was to make the New York Times bestseller list. That was it. I had no idea the book would be as successful as it was.” Keep scrolling for a look back at Harvey's ups and downs over the years:

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2007

In June 2007, the comedian married his third wife, Marjorie Harvey, whom he credits with helping him become a better man. He adopted her three children: Morgan, Jason and Lori. Steve also shares twin daughters Brandi and Karli and son Broderick with first wife Marcia Harvey, whom he divorced in 1994. He and his second wife, Mary Shackelford, share son Wynton. 

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2010

The Love Don't Cost a Thing star landed his Family Feud hosting gig in 2010, replacing John O'Hurley. Steve has since won two Daytime Emmys for his work on the game show, which saw improved ratings after he took over as host. 

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2011

Steve won the BET Humanitarian Award at the 2011 BET Awards for his work with the Steve & Marjorie Harvey Foundation, which he founded the year prior. The organization provides youth outreach services and mentoring to "cultivate the next generation of responsible leaders." 

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2012

The Marconi Award winner executive produced Think Like a Man, based on his 2009 self-help book. The film was a hit at the box office, later inspiring the 2014 sequel Think Like a Man Too. 

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2014

The You Got Served actor won his first two Daytime Emmys — one for Outstanding Game Show Host for his work on Family Feud and the other for Outstanding Talk Show Informative for his eponymous talk show. 

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2015

While hosting the Miss Universe pageant in 2015, Steve became embroiled in one of his biggest controversies. He mistakenly named Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez, who was really the first runner-up, as the winner instead of Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, who won. 

At the time, he blamed the mix-up on a problem with the teleprompter. In April 2021, he called the incident "the worst week of my life," adding that he didn't realize how bad the mistake was until the next day. "It was a painful-ass night there," he said during an episode of the "Comedy Gold Minds With Kevin Hart" podcast. "I didn't know the pain I was in." 

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2017

The TV presenter came under fire in May 2017 after the leak of an alleged letter he wrote to employees of his talk show. In the memo, he allegedly told staffers not to approach him in his dressing room or in the hallway. 

He later said he didn't regret sending the letter because he felt that employees were abusing his open-door policy, bringing friends to visit and asking him for autographs when he was trying to work. "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 explained at the time “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.”

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2019

The Celebrity Family Feud host faced another Miss Universe mix-up during the 2019 edition of the pageant. After he announced Miss Philippines Gazini Ganados as the winner of that year's National Costume competition, Miss Malaysia Shweta Sekhon came onstage to accept the award instead. Pageant organizers later confirmed that Steve was correct and Miss Philippines won, but they did not explain why Miss Malaysia believed otherwise. 

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2021

While hosting Miss Universe in 2021, the Act Like a Success author mixed up the countries Portugal and Paraguay before noticing his mistake. "They wrote Portugal on the damn sign, trying to play me … they’re trying to get me again," he said from the stage. "But I’m not going for it this year. Congratulations, Paraguay. They had Portugal on the damn sign. I looked dead at it. Y’all saw it. Don’t try to blame this on me this year.”

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2022

The comedian launched his new show Judge Steve Harvey in January 2022. In the series, the Me and the Boys alum presides over disagreements between "litigants" and making decisions based on his instincts. Though the program received mixed reviews, it became a ratings hit. 

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2023

Steve's gig as host of the Miss Universe pageant ended with the 71st edition of the ceremony, which was helmed by Olivia Culpo and Jeannie Mai. “My goal was really to make sure we led with a female lens this next go-around,” Miss Universe Organization CEO Amy Emmerich told Variety in December 2022, one month before the pageant aired. “It was a rare opportunity to be able to kind of restart in a whole new place.”