Steve Harvey, once one of the most influential television personalities, is hinting at leaving television after NBC blindsided him by announcing singer Kelly Clarkson was taking his spot last year.
Harvey’s troubles began when he sent an email to female production staff members instructing them not to approach him or enter his dressing room without an appointment during Season 5 of his talk show.
Harvey apparently acted proactively to avoid the messy #MeToo accusations that destroyed the careers of other prominent males in the entertainment industry.
A year after the public backlash to his email, Harvey was out of a job.
According to Variety.com, Harvey is considering moving on and expanding his horizons into the tech field to earn a living to feed his family.
“I’ve got to generate business that can secure something for my family,” he said. “If I don’t get into these apps, and if I don’t expand globally, if I don’t look at the tech space, I have no way of leaving them anything.”
“I’ve already proven myself to be the hardest working man in show business,” Harvey said last month at Variety’s annual CES Summit in Las Vegas. “Now with global business opportunities, I’m trying to work a lot smarter than harder.”
Harvey, who looks a decade older than his stated age of 62, addressed actor Jussie Smollett who claimed he was a victim of a racial, homophobic attack in downtown Chicago on Tuesday.
“I just want to say this to little brotha Jussie, that as a Black man in this country, that I’m down wit you, and I know a lot of [heterosexual] brothas that’s down wit you,” Harvey said in a video uploaded to Instagram.com. “This ain’t about sexual preference or nuthin. This is about coming to the aid of another brotha that has tasted the brutality of hatred, racism and bigotry.”
Harvey responded to director Lee Daniels’ call for straight Black men to show public support for the “Empire” star, who is openly homosexual.
Watch Harvey’s video below.
