Even if Miss Universe host Steve Harvey has apologized for his Asian men joke a week later, netizens doubt how sincere his apology was. The comedian tweeted on Tuesday that it was not his intention to offend anyone, and his humor was not meant to have any malice or disrespect.
Soft Apology
One comment from netizens was that it took him one week to issue the soft apology, noted Jack Davis. Eddie Huang, author of “Fresh off the Boat,” wrote a comment on The New York Times on Saturday that “Attractiveness is a very haphazard dish that can’t be boiled down to height or skin color,” Shanghaiist quoted Huang.
Harvey’s joke was in reference to a self-help book “How to Date a White Woman: A Practical Guide for Asian Men.” He asked in a segment on his talk show on Monday, “Excuse me, do you like Asian men? No! Thank you … I don’t even like Chinese food, boy. It don’t stay with you no time. I don’t eat what I can’t pronounce.”
Twitter Comments
His bad joke continues to elicit negative comments on Twitter. Ionne tsunami called Harvey’s joke wack and made no sense. Connecting the joke with U.S. politics, Rion Amilcar Scott said the joke “was an application to join White Supremacy. His meeting with Trump an acceptance into the clique.”
Harvey’s meeting with incoming U.S. President Donald Trump is also harvesting a lot of negative comments. “Saturday Night Live” and “The Daily Show” mocked on Monday his meeting with the billionaire at his Trump Tower in New York. The black host explained in a tweet that the meeting with Trump was for him to help Ben Carson, a nominee for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, discuss how to help inner cities, CNN reported.
Besides “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah who commented on Monday that people thought Trump would not do anything for black people, rapper T.I. also called out Harvey and several other prominent blacks by posting videos on Instagram for meeting with Trump.