ATLANTA — Steve Harvey can’t catch a break when it comes to Miss Universe.
Years after his gaffe heard 'round the, well, universe, the TV host went viral yet again Sunday when he appeared to announce the wrong winner of the 2019 pageant’s national costume contest, USA Today reported.
“Earlier this week, all the contestants competed in the national costume contest. Here’s a look at the winner, Philippines,” began Harvey, standing in front of an image of Miss Philippines Gazini Ganados.
“This is it right here,” he continued, gesturing toward Miss Malaysia Shweta Sekhon, who had joined him onstage.
She quickly corrected him. “It’s not Philippines; it’s Malaysia,” she said.
“I just read that in the teleprompter… Y’all gon' quit doing this to me.”
— QuickTake by Bloomberg (@QuickTake) December 9, 2019
Did Steve Harvey mess up again at #MissUniverse2019? Not according to @MissUniverse. The winner of the National Costume competition is #MissUniversePhilippines2019 #GaziniGanados pic.twitter.com/3Lx2sUr6LF
″I just read that in the teleprompter," he told Sekhon before turning to the producers. “Y’all gonna quit doing this to me.”
Harvey added: “See, this is what they did to me back in 2015, played me short like that.”
He was referring to his infamous flub from four years ago, when he incorrectly announced that Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutiérrez had won the pageant instead of Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, People magazine reported.
But this time, Harvey appeared to be at least somewhat vindicated. Early Monday, the pageant tweeted that he had named the correct winner of this year’s costume contest.
“@IAmSteveHarvey had it right: Miss Universe Philippines Gazini Ganados is the winner of the #MissUniverse2019 National Costume competition!” the tweet read. “Congratulations, Gazini.”
.@IAmSteveHarvey had it right: Miss Universe Philippines Gazini Ganados is the winner of the #MissUniverse2019 National Costume competition! Congratulations, Gazini. 🎉 pic.twitter.com/L8DpAyNL9I
— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) December 9, 2019
The Miss Universe Organization elaborated on what happened in a statement obtained by People.
“As part of the broadcast, we also featured Miss Universe Malaysia Shweta Sekhon’s national costume,” the statement read. “No mistakes regarding the national costume winner were made by him, the prompter or production.”
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