TV host Steve Harvey under fire for on-air racist outburst

During a segment on his eponymous talk show on Monday, the 59-year-old comedian made fun of several self-help books, including one titled How to Date a White Woman: A Practical Guide for Asian Men.

“Excuse me, do you like Asian men?” he asked the audience. “No thank you.”

He then suggested a new book title, “How to Date a Black Woman: A Practical Guide [for] Asian Men.”

“That’s one page too!” He says. “‘You like Asian men?’ I don’t even like Chinese food. It don’t stay with you no time … I don’t eat what I can’t pronounce.”
 

Steve Harvey's outburst

Though Harvey spent most of his segment cackling at his own jokes, people on social media weren’t laughing.

“Steve Harvey’s joke about Asian men being unattractive was trash,” wrote one Twitter user.

Asian American advocacy groups have also come out condemning Harvey.

“It’s unfortunate when those with a public platform like Steve Harvey use that platform to mock and ridicule entire groups of people and in this particular case, to perpetuate negative and harmful racial stereotypes about Asian Americans,” Karin Wang, V.P. of Programs and Communications at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, told Page Six. “We are disappointed in Steve Harvey.”

Harvey is scheduled to host the Miss Universe pageant on January 30 in the Philippines, which is home to more than 45 million Asian men. He made headlines hosting the 2015 pageant after he announced the wrong contestant as the winner.

A rep for Harvey did not respond to a request for comment.

This story was originally published on the New York Post and appears here by permission.