Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Weeks after the mistake heard around the world, Miss Universe pageant host Steve Harvey finally spoke about his blunder and mentioned which person he still needs to clear the air with.
Harvey spoke about the incident on Monday (January 4) on his radio show, The Steve Harvey Morning Show.
A sound clip of the show’s segment was initially published on Harvey’s website, but it has since been removed. However, as of posting, it could still be found on the US Weekly website.
Harvey said that when he mistakenly announced Colombia’s Ariadna Gutierrez as the winner, he could only give the information that he had.
He said, “No one knows. And that information is not on the teleprompter because you got two women standing there. So what’s in the teleprompter was in the teleprompter. I read what was on the teleprompter, and then I read what was on the card.”
Harvey added, “The difference being, on the card it said first runner-up. Now what happened; how it got like that, how it was done, how it was worked on, that’s neither here nor there.”
Harvey said he mentioned the name that was on the card he was holding and when he walked off the stage, “everything was cool.”
It was after that, he said, “that all hell broke loose.”
Harvey said he tried to fix the mistake immediately.
“When I did it, it was horrible for Miss Colombia, ” he said.
Harvey added that Gutierrez was the only person involved in the gaffe that he has not had the chance to speak with.
“I’ve had the chance to talk to Miss Philippines, I’ve talked to all the pageant people. I’ve talked to the people backstage…even me and the director had a long conversation. But I haven’t been able to reach out [to Miss Columbia].”
