If it’s a good Friday, it must be Easter
STEVE Harvey, the man who famously gave the Miss Universe crown to the wrong contestant, has now offered the world Easter greetings — on Christmas Day.
“Merry Easter, y’all!” ran the caption to a picture of a smiling Harvey, smoking a cigar and flashing a “V” sign.
The picture was posted on Friday on Harvey’s social media accounts.
Harvey poked fun at himself — and his gaffes — in his first public appearance since the high-profile fiasco.
Harvey, a 58-year-old comedian and talkshow host, misread his cue card in front of a global TV audience at the Miss Universe pageant on December 20 and announced that Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, had triumphed.
He apologised moments later, saying Miss Philippines, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, was actually the winner.
Harvey apologised on Twitter for what he called “an honest mistake”, but identified the women as “Miss Philippians and Miss Columbia”. He quickly corrected the spelling mistakes and deleted the tweet.
Viewers can expect to see a lot more of him. “Steve Harvey Signs Multi-Year Deal to Host Miss Universe,” ran the headline on Comedyhype.com website. Harvey posted a link to the site on his Facebook page.
The brief text, quoting an ET Online story, said the contract, signed just before the pageant aired, “is for at least three years, possibly even as many as six or seven”.
After the pageant mix-up several people claimed on Twitter it was a publicity stunt to boost the sagging TV ratings of Harvey and the event.
“I generally don’t buy into conspiracy theories, but this is the most attention the Miss Universe pageant has gotten since, well, ever,” said sports writer Les East.
Another tweet said: “Steve Harvey’s mistake was all a conspiracy created for two purposes: make Miss Universe relevant again. Make Steve Harvey relevant again.”
Online magazine Salon called doubters “Miss Universe truthers” — a US term for conspiracy theory devotees — that “show how paranoid we’ve become”.