Steve Harvey made major headlines at the end of 2015 when he made a major flub as the host of the Miss Universe pageant. Miss Philippines actually won the pageant, but Harvey accidentally declared that runner-up Miss Columbia was the big winner. He still landed the gig to host Miss Universe 2016, and his blunder last year didn't go unacknowledged. In fact, the new Miss Colombia had some harsh words for him on behalf of her country.
Miss Colombia - also known as Andrea Tovar, 23 - took the stage at the Miss Universe 2016 pageant to banter with Steve Harvey. The host asked Tovar what kind of reputation he had in Columbia since his announced the wrong winner last year. Tovar had a blunt answer for him: "A lot of people hate you." She followed up on the comment by saying that she loved him. Still, it was a pretty epic - and somewhat deserved - burn on Harvey on the Miss Universe stage.
Enough time has passed that the Miss Universe 2016 flub is much more funny than awkward nowadays, so it was only fair that Steve Harvey faced a few jokes about his performance as host last year. After all, as much as a host is responsible for keeping the audience engaged and laughing during the pageant, there's really only one thing that he needs to get right, and that one thing is reading the right name from a card. Harvey still seems pretty mortified by his mistake, but he was evidently a good sport throughout the night as he took shots at himself in his opening monologue. The event might have felt odd if nobody acknowledged the sash-wearing elephant in the room, and Miss Colombia's roast sounds like it worked.
As it turns out, Steve Harvey faced an awkward situation almost immediately after his interaction with Miss Colombia. The contestant that Harvey had to announce after Miss Colombia was none other than Miss Philippines. Fortunately for everybody, he managed to say her name correctly and avoid another embarrassment. He landed the 2016 hosting gig despite messing up in 2015; who's to say that he would stay in the running for another renewal of his contract if he messed up again? He managed to declare Miss France the winner without any problems this year. I think it's safe to say that he actually rehearsed this time around.
Of course, Steve Harvey got over his immediate embarrassment last year pretty quickly. In fact, he turned his Miss Universe mistake into an opportunity to star in a Super Bowl commercial for T-Mobile. The ad turned out to be one of the most memorable of Super Bowl 50. Sure, he had to face the 2015 Miss Colombia on his own show mere weeks after declaring her Miss Universe, but I'd say that he made off pretty well for a guy who made a very public error.
You can catch the full Miss Universe 2016 pageant tonight at 7 p.m. ET on Fox. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in TV news, and don't forget to check out our midseason TV premiere schedule.
