One surprise winner from Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony was nowhere near the Dolby Theatre — and slumbering away in what we can only assume are exquisitely tailored matching pyjamas.
For more than a year, Steve Harvey’s flub at the 2015 Miss Universe pageant had turned him into an internet meme — the dapper host who messed up big on national television.
At the Miss Universe pageant in December 2015, Harvey declared Miss Colombia the victor. She wasn’t — and Harvey quickly announced the real winner, Miss Philippines.
“OK, folks,” Harvey backpedalled as Miss Colombia, still in the dark, waved to a cheering crowd. “I have to apologize.”
But it was too late — Harvey’s flub was already rocketing around the world.
If you were also slumbering in your matching pyjamas and missed Sunday night’s surprise ending to the Oscars, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly declared La La Land the best picture winner.
Moments later, in what is now the biggest award show mix-up in history, the truth came out: Moonlight won.
In the ensuing chaos, Jimmy Kimmel name-dropped Harvey: “Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this.”
Harvey addressed the mix-up on his morning radio show after hinting at the error on Twitter: “YOU KNOW I have something to say.”
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Monday morning, he joked that the burden was lifted.
“I’d like to say in the words of Martin Luther King: ‘Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty, I’m free at last.’ ”
Harvey also made comments on his show in defence of Beatty.
“Because Warren Beatty made this mistake, does he have to die?” Harvey asked. “Should he lose his life for this? Y’all want to kill him? Will he need security because of this?”
Harvey later alluded to a Kimmel gag from earlier in the night, when tourists who thought they were going to a wax museum walked into the live broadcast of the Oscars.
“Warren Beatty and me look like Vicky and them when they got off the bus and found out — Gary and Vicky,” Harvey said. “That’s the same look me and Warren had. I can get Warren through this. Call me, Warren Beatty. Me and Warren Beatty gonna take photos together.”
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