After host Steve Harvey accidentally announced the wrong winner at the Miss Universe pageant last December, it makes complete sense that some people wouldn't want him hosting again. And, one of those people just happens to be the president of the Philippines. Looks like Harvey has made a pretty big enemy with his mistake.
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte relayed his concerns to the country's tourism secretary, Wanda Teo, and she, in turn, spoke about it during a press conference in the Philippines on Thursday, where she admitted that the president voiced his dislike of the idea of Steve Harvey hosting the pageant once again. According to the translation from CNN Philippines, Duterte told Teo flatly that "he cannot host," and vowed to talk to the powers that be at the Miss Universe pageant to try and make sure that Harvey wouldn't be leading next year's festivities, adding "I don't want him to be the host of the Miss Universe [pageant]." Miss Universe 2016 is scheduled for January 2017, and will take place in the nation that is home to the current winner.
Steve Harvey turned Miss Universe 2015 into a pageant with one of the messiest endings on record. It was down to Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, and Miss Philippines, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach. Instead of announcing Wurtzbach the winner, Harvey told Gutierrez that she was the newly crowned Miss Universe and walked off stage, letting her get her sash and crown on and get her flowers and begin to rejoice in her victory. Sadly for Miss Colombia, that celebration only lasted for a couple minutes, because once Harvey had spent that amount of time back stage, he realized that he'd made a huge mistake. After re-reading his card with the names of the winner and runner-up on it, he then had to go back on stage, interrupt the Gutierrez victory walk, apologize and reveal that Miss Philippines was the actual winner of the Miss Universe crown.
The resulting controversy led to allegations that Steve Harvey skipped the part of rehearsal where the victor would be crowned, or that he was actually drunk during the pageant; both are allegations that Harvey has denied. In the uproar over his mistake, the star was even burned in effigy during a New Year's celebration in Colombia. So, yeah, no one was happy with Steve Harvey.
But, here's the kicker: before his hosting gaffe, Steve Harvey was signed to a five-year contract to lead the Miss Universe pageants on television. Meaning that even if the president of the Philippines doesn't want the man anywhere near a Miss Universe microphone, he's going to be there, and that's exactly what Wanda Teo told him. But, the tourism secretary is looking to find a way to smooth things over and make Rodrigo Duterte happier about the situtation. Teo is trying to get the Miss Universe organization to approve of having a Filipina co-host join Harvey on stage for the contest. As they say, two sets of eyes should certainly be better than one in this case.
