Steve Harvey tweeted on Jan. 17, Tuesday, an apology for his comments during a segment of NBC's "Steve Harvey" show aired on Jan. 6. In his talk show, he presented a comedy bit which made Asian men the center of the joke and recently caught fire on social media.
On the Jan. 6 episode of Harvey's talk show, he shared he has found a book "How to Date a White Woman: A Practical Guide for Asian Men." He took the book and jested that he found it funny he could almost not control himself from laughing. He summarized the book's message in two sentences.
"Excuse me, do you like Asian men?," Harvey quipped. "No, thank you."
Published in November 2002, the book by Adam Quan aims to guide an Asian man to feel confident, avoid making mistakes and successfully date a white woman. Harvey then suggested another book which should be titled, "How to Date a Black Woman: A Practical Guide (for) Asian Men." He said it would only be just a single page as well.
"You like Asian men?" Harvey said. "I don't even like Chinese food. It don't stay with you no time. I don't eat what I can't pronounce."
Such segment of the show angered many, including Asian lawmakers from New York who sent Harvey a letter demanding for an immediate public apology. Signed by Assemblyman Ron Kim, Rep. Grace Meng, Councilman Peter Koo of D-Queens, Rep. Yuh-line Niou and Councilwoman Margaret Chin of D-Manhattan, the letter in Kim's Dropbox account describes Harvey's comments about Asian men as "offensive, classless, racist and sexist."
Harvey will host the Miss Universe 2016 in Manila on Jan. 30. In December 2015, he mistakenly announced Miss Colombia as the winner instead of Miss Philippines, which angered Colombians, but Andrea Tovar, the current candidate from Colombia, apparently has moved on from that mistake.
"I understand it was a difficult situation to accept," Tovar told ABS-CBN. "But it was a mistake. Now it is different situation we are in."
Watch the segment of "Steve Harvey" on Jan. 6 below: