Steve Harvey has addressed jokes he made about Asian men on his eponymous talk show two weeks ago.
In a segment mocking obscure, absurdly specific advice books, Harvey zeroed in on How to Date a White Woman: A Practical Guide for Asian Men by laughing at the idea that any woman, black or white, would be attracted to Asian men.
The comments drew pointed reactions, first from the blog Angry Asian Man. Multiple outlets picked up on the viral backlash last week, including Huffington Post, Fox News and Daily Mail. Over the weekend, Fresh Off the Boat author Eddie Huang penned an essay for The New York Times describing the personal impacts of the stereotype of the emasculated Asian male, and The Hollywood Reporter published a column last Friday morning providing historical context to the pop culture trope.
Later that day, Harvey appeared before the press at Trump Tower, revealing that he had met with Donald Trump to discuss housing issues. There, he acknowledged the online criticism from the past week: “I ain’t been laughing that much over the past few days. They’re kinda beating me up on the internet right now for no reason.”
Yesterday, Harvey posted a screenshot of a statement on his Twitter account: “I offer my humblest apology for offending anyone, particularly those in the Asian community, last week,” he wrote. “It was not my intention and the humor was not meant with any malice or disrespect whatsoever.”
Wanted to share this today. pic.twitter.com/mpKGBZic5k
— Steve Harvey (@IAmSteveHarvey) January 17, 2017
