TV host Steve Harvey took a call from a resident of Flint, Michigan, on his radio program Wednesday and may have gone a little far with the jokes. According to the Huffington Post, the caller made jokes about the Cleveland Cavaliers losing the NBA championship, saying the team “didn’t deserve jack.”
Videos by Rare
In the video posted on Facebook by Marques Moore, Harvey didn’t take to his team being talked down to and began to speak back about caller’s town, particularly the Flint water crisis. Although his co-hosts tried to reel him in, Harvey ended the call by telling the caller to “enjoy your nice brown glass of water.”
The backlash was swift, especially since five officials were charged this week for their mishandling of the crisis. Several Flint residents took to Twitter to criticize Harvey, including Little Miss Flint.
Flint is not a joke @IAmSteveHarvey @SteveHarveyFM please apologize #FlintWaterCrisis #Flint #FlintLivesMatter #PeopleDied pic.twitter.com/uOSPQsOkFR
— Mari Copeny (@LittleMissFlint) June 14, 2017
Karen Weaver, the mayor of Flint, also released a statement, calling for Harvey to make an apology.
Flint Mayor Weaver calls for a public apology from Steve Harvey. See her letter here. pic.twitter.com/rADXaWHB3p
— Bill Harris (@BillHarrisTV) June 15, 2017
Harvey did release a response, saying that they were “talking trash about our teams and cities.” He added that “any attempts to craft this into anything more serves no one.”