Harvey meets Trump on inner-city issues
LOS ANGELES: Steve Harvey, the comedian and host, met with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower, where he said that they discussed his working with Ben Carson on housing and innercity issues.
“We are going to team up and see if we can bring about some positive change in the inner cities,” Harvey told reporters, after appearing briefly with Trump after the meeting in the Trump tower lobby.
“He agreed and he wants to do something.”
Harvey said that Trump “seemed really sincere about it.”
Harvey, who endorsed Hillary Clinton in the election yet called Trump “the most exciting candidate I have seen in years,” said that they also chatted about golf.
“We laughed about my score in golf,” he added.
He noted that the levity was a welcome change for him because “I ain’t been laughing that much the past few days they’ve been beating me up on the Internet.”
Harvey came under criticism for making race-related jokes on his show.
Harvey also said that Trump got Ben Carson, his nominee to be the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, on the phone.
“It was a really cool meeting to begin with,” Harvey said.
He said that he was contacted by both the Trump and the Obama transition teams.
He also defended attending the meeting after expressing concerns about his administration. “You don’t kill it with one conversation, but you can start it with a conversation.”
Reporters also asked him if the Trump family would be willing to go on Family Feud, which Harvey hosts and he and Trump talked about at the meeting. He then suggested that perhaps they could go up against the Obamas or the Clintons.
“If I could set it up, it would be sky rocketing for the ratings,” he quipped.
Harvey said that he will not be attending the inauguration, noting that he will be travelling next week after turning 60 on Tuesday.