Flint Mayor Karen Weaver is demanding an apology from radio show host Steve Harvey.
Dee Smith, 68, a listener of the show said he called The Steve Harvey Morning Show, Wednesday to discuss Monday night’s loss in the NBA Finals. Harvey who is a Cav’s fan asked the caller during their brief conversation where he’s from and proceeds to deliver a very harsh joke.
“You from Flint?” “That’s why y’all ain’t even got clean water. When was the last time you touched water and it didn’t have lead in it?
Before ending the call Harvey tells the caller to go “enjoy your nice brown glass of water.”
His joke instantly sparked controversy. Mayor Karen Weaver is no stranger to Harvey, as she appeared previously on the show.
The comedian’s comment came just after reports surface that, 5 Michigan officials will be criminally charged with involuntary man slaughter and another with misconduct in office in regards to the “Flint Water Crisis”.
In a letter that Weaver sent to Harvey she writes,
“As Mayor of the City of Flint, and someone who has been on your show and spoken with you personally about the Flint Water Crisis, I was deeply saddened by your comments about our city. While I feel it was not meant to be an intentional hurt or insult against the citizens of this community, it was.
“We are still going through many hardships and challenges caused by the poisoning of our city. To make a joke out of a tragedy such as this was in very poor taste, especially coming from someone of your stature.
“While we are making progress in replacing lead tainted service lines, we still have to use filters and remain on bottled water. As Mayor, I would appreciate, on behalf of the citizens of this community, a public apology. I would love to sit and discuss with you the status of where we are today.”
Many people in the city took offense to Harvey’s comments including Civil Rights groups who are seeking an apology from Harvey as well. Steve says that his joke was nothing to be taken seriously, it was just a joke.
In a interview with AJC Radio & TV Talk, the Family Feud host claims that he wasn’t joking about the entire town’s residents “he was just engaging in light-hearted “trash talk” between him and the Flint caller.”
Harvey said “The uproar came. This is sort of crazy. It was out of context. I was just talking to this one guy.”
Harvey has yet to release an apology regarding the joke.