Steve Harvey just had to go where nobody in his position has gone before. The comedian and talk show host has always been less than afraid to ruffle some feathers. He took it too far on Thursday morning, however, when he made a joke at the expense of the people of Flint, Michigan, who have been stuck in a humanitarian crisis for several years with no clean water and no end in sight. The joke was in poor humor, even to his co-workers.
Flint faces an unfunny joke
A person from Flint called into Harvey's radio show on Thursday morning to talk about the NBA Finals, which the Cleveland Cavaliers lost in five games.
A caller named Dee stated that the Cavaliers didn't deserve to win, drawing the ire of the show's host. Before the end of the call, Harvey - an ardent fan of the team - dropped the day's most awful zinger: "Enjoy your nice brown glass of water."
In the background of the show, it immediately became clear that Harvey's co-hosts were not fans of the joke. They started telling him to apologize, which he responded to by saying, "I wasn't talking about the city of Flint." But even if he wasn't, the comment still had the appearance of being in bad taste - an apology would have ended the issue. He would not relent though, leading city officials to demand an apology from him. According to ML Live, Harvey and his spokesman were both unavailable for comment as the backlash on Facebook began to grow against him.
Harvey finds controversy again
One could make the argument that Harvey's middle name is 'Controversy,' since it's all he generates these days. Just recently, a memo from his television show leaked that made the man seem as egotistical as they come. He has met with President Donald Trump, poked fun at Asian men, and infamously screwed up the Miss Universe pageant results.
The joke about Flint is just the latest in a laundry list of errors.
There could be one perverse silver lining for the butt of the joke, however. Every time Flint is brought up in one way or another, attention returns to the water crisis afflicting the city's citizens. As soon as the buzz dies down, the attention on the city's plight does too.
Harvey may have been making a cruel and inappropriate joke, but his comments were trending on social media by the end of Thursday, reminding people of what was going on in Flint. He doesn't deserve a pat on the back for that, though - he only trained people's attention on a problem by being one himself.
