Comedian Steve Harvey unrepentant over staff 'ambush' ban
Colleagues made him feel like he was in “prison” from all of their approaches, he said.
US comedian Steve Harvey has refused to apologise for writing an angry letter banning his chat show colleagues from “ambushing” him, saying their attention makes him feel like he is in “prison”.
The 60-year-old, whose career has seen him go from homeless stand-up comic to host of The Steve Harvey Show, said in the leaked memo that security would remove staff from his dressing room door.
He urged colleagues to schedule an appointment or face being ignored, adding: “Do not wait in any hallway to speak to me. I hate being ambushed.”
Steve explained his hardline policy to Entertainment Tonight on Thursday.
He said: “I just didn’t want to be in this prison any more where I had to stay in this one little room, scared to go out and take a breath of fresh air without somebody approaching me, so I wrote the letter.
“I don’t apologise about the letter.”
He added: “I could not find a way to walk from the stage to my dressing room, to sit in my make-up chair, to walk from my dressing room to the stage or to just sit and have lunch without somebody just walking in.”
Steve said he wrote the memo at the start of the season to get more “me time”.
He added that he believes the memo was leaked by a “disgruntled” colleague who is angry at the show being moved from Chicago to Los Angeles.
In the memo, he said: “There will be no meetings in my dressing room. No stopping by or popping in. NO ONE.
“My security team will stop everyone from standing at my door who have the intent to see or speak to me.
“I want all the ambushing to stop now. That includes TV staff.”
