Talk show host Steve Harvey is back in the headlines once more, and not for a very pleasant reason. As he prepared to move his talk show operation from Chicago to Los Angeles, one unhappy (and soon to be out of work) member of his staff leaked a memo from Harvey, which revealed Harvey's attitude toward his employees approaching him. He didn't mince any words about not wanting to be bothered by any who don't have struct appointments, and the memo really didn't reflect well on him. Now, Harvey has spoken up about why he wrote the memo, saying this:
I could not find a way to walk from the stage to my dressing room, to sit in my makeup chair, to walk from my dressing room to the stage or to just sit and have lunch without somebody just walking in. I've always had a policy where, you know, you can come and talk to me -- so many people are great around here, but some of them just started taking advantage of it. Look man, I'm in my makeup chair, they walk in the room. I'm having lunch, they walk in, they don't knock. I'm in the hallway, I'm getting ambushed by people with friends that come to the show and having me sign this and do this. I just said, 'Wait a minute.' And in hindsight, I probably should've handled it a little bit differently.
In the memo, Steve Harvey made it clear that he would not be spoken to by staff without an appointment, and he would not engage in conversation unless a person knocked on his door or used the doorbell. The memo was evidently circulated as the current fifth season kicked off, so it seems that Harvey's feelings were building for a while. His comments to ET indicate that he wishes the leaked memo wasn't quite so harsh, but he doesn't seem to regret what he had to say.
On the one hand, I'd say that it's pretty reasonable for the head honcho at a talk show to want folks to make appointments so he can budget his time responsibly. On the other hand, I probably wouldn't want to use harsh language in a document could quite easily be leaked by staffers who would soon lose their jobs. Steve Harvey went on to explain more about why he felt that he needed the memo by the time Season 5 production kicked off, saying this:
I just didn't want to be in this prison anymore where I had to be in this little room, scared to go out and take a breath of fresh air without somebody approaching me, so I wrote the letter. I don't apologize about the letter, but it's kind of crazy what people who took this thing and ran, man. I appreciate you asking me.
It should be interesting to see how long it will take for Steve Harvey to stop being asked about the memo. We can bet that interest would die down quickly if he ate some humble pie and apologized, but it's clear that he has no intention of saying he's sorry for sharing his feelings via memo. He may simply come to regret how he said what he said. Of course, given that this is the man who ultimately turned a profit from his legendary Miss Universe flub and regularly makes pretty wild jokes on Family Feud, I'd say he'll probably move past this incident without too much impact on his career.
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