Miss Universe show, host apologize again for crowning wrong woman
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Steve Harvey holds up the card showing the winners after he incorrectly announced Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez at the winner at the Miss Universe pageant Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015, in Las Vegas. According to the pageant, a misreading led the announcer to read Miss Colombia as the winner before they took it away and gave it to Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.(AP Photo/John Locher)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Steve Harvey holds up the card showing the winners after he incorrectly announced Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez at the winner at the Miss Universe pageant Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015, in Las Vegas. According to the pageant, a misreading led the announcer to read Miss Colombia as the winner before they took it away and gave it to Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.(AP Photo/John Locher)
BOGOTA, Colombia >> The Miss Universe pageant and host Steve Harvey doubled down on the apologies Monday after an excruciating live television moment — announcing incorrectly that Miss Colombia had won and then taking the crown from her head to give to a rival from the Philippines.
The fallout from Sunday’s show made Harvey an online symbol of “oops” moments, drew a reaction from Colombia’s president and even a gloating tweet from Donald Trump, the pageant’s former owner.
As televised on Fox, the contest was down to Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo of Colombia and Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach of the Philippines when Harvey, a first-time Miss Universe host, proclaimed Gutierrez the winner after a long dramatic pause.
Music swelled, Gutierrez was fitted for a sash, given flowers and a crown was placed on her head. That made it two straight Miss Universe winners for Colombia, where the pageants are taken seriously. She bathed in applause for nearly two minutes before Harvey slowly made his way back onto the stage.
“I have to apologize,” he said. “The first runner-up is Colombia.”
The camera switched to a bewildered-looking Wurtzbach, who came back on the stage to get the crown as the same celebratory music repeated. Harvey said she’d be taking her first walk as Miss Universe, but mostly she stood immobile. A woman stood in between the two contestants, trying to comfort Gutierrez by rubbing her back.
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Two minutes later, the comedian who hosts his own daytime talk show as well as the game show “Family Feud” returned, saying “let me just take control of this.”
Harvey explained on the air that he misread the card he was given with the names of the winners. Colombia was listed as the first runner-up, and he’d been confused with how it was written. He held up the card for the camera.
“It is my mistake,” he said. “Still, it’s a great night. Please don’t hold it against the ladies. We feel very badly, but it’s still a great night.”
Harvey later tweeted an apology to the women and viewers. “I feel terrible,” he wrote. The Miss Universe organization also issued an apology on Monday.
Wurtzbach later said she was happy to win, but confused and concerned for her rival. She said she tried to approach her backstage, but the Colombian contestant was crying and surrounded by a crowd of women.
“I did not take the crown from her,” Wurtzbach said.
Celebrations quickly turned to anger in Colombia, where the hashtag “Respect the Crown” was the country’s top trending topic on Twitter. Even the president was upset.
“They put the crown on her head,” President Juan Manuel Santos said Monday. “The photos are there to prove it. To me, as a Colombian, she is still Miss Universe.”
It was the pageant’s first time on Fox, and the Nielsen company said the contest was seen in the United States by 6.2 million people — strong numbers for the network. The previous Miss Universe on NBC, in January, reached 7.7 million people.
NBC dumped the pageant after Trump, its then-owner, angered many Latinos with comments about immigration. Trump subsequently sold the pageant and tweeted after the flub that it “would never have happened” on his watch. He retweeted someone else’s comment that Trump must be happy that the pageant had gone “off the rails” after he sold it.
He softened his tone in an interview on NBC’s Today Show, calling Harvey a “great guy” who handled it well. Trump said if he were still in charge of the show, he would make the women share the title.
“Things happen,” he said. “It’s live television.”
Harvey, the comedian, found himself the butt of Internet jokes Monday. One prominent post showed his smiling face under the headline: “Happy Friday!” followed by “Wait, sorry, it’s Monday.”
Last year, the winner of the Miss Florida pageant had to give back her crown following a vote-tabulation error that was noticed days later. And a transcribing error caused the wrong author’s name to be announced for a National Book Award in 2011. Neither event happened on live television, however.
54 responses to “Miss Universe show, host apologize again for crowning wrong woman”
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What they grumbling about? The host read the cue card WRONG. Can’t help it. He makes a lot of mistakes reading questions to contestants on the game show he hosts, Family Feud. Sorry this unfortunate mistake happened, but get a lot of cry babies over nothing. Guarantee Steve Harvey WON’T be back as host next year. Congratulations, Miss Philippines.
and also, Miss Phillipines’ glory was taken away as well… i mean, she couldn’t really relish her crowning achievement… it was marred as well due to this HUGE faux pas!!!
Miss Phillipines beautiful moment was spoiled by a big blunder. She can never have that moment back again. Total shame on the host in a procedure that should have rehearsed.
Remember when a past President’s teleprompter went haywire? Somebody went dumbfounded?
Big deal it was a mistake. He didn’t do it on purpose. I guess some people are perfect and some are not. LOL
You don’t make that kind of mistake on national tv. You make sure you know what the result is before opening your mouth. He probably had an earpiece so he should have verified it with the pageant officials before he make his blunder. This was a major mess up by Harvey and a black eye to the pageant. Then he comes out and misspells both countries names in his twitter response.
so very awkward! cholo says they had it right the first time. that is one hot latina! bet she likes tacos too.
Hot, but you still can’t touch it.
Steve Harvey made it worse on Twitter apology; he apologized to Miss Philippians and to Miss Columbia. He corrected the tweet but its still out there. The dude needs to crawl under a rock for a few months.
or get better edumacated… LOL! (yes i spelled that wrong on purpose) 🙂
No need education if you want to be a leader in Hawaii. Just got to learn how to take the bribes.
Hmm….future Family Feud survey poll? Q. Where was Steve Harvey’s mind when he announced the winner?
or what was Steve Harvey’s most epic FAIL… moment.
heyyy at least the pageants ratings, publicity etc. is going up because of this.
Only got to see all them pageants’ s white teeth from that blunder of a good laugh.
Survey says……………
hey, even monkeys fall out of trees.
hey. Even my con dom falls off.
I’m now expecting that American progressives will soon start demanding that everyone gets a trophy. It’s not fair that only one can win.
No, they won’t actually. Glad to see you making a political statement out of a non-political issue, though. Stay classy.
Trumps says that he would have given the crown to both. Kind of nice since he says all Latins who enter the U.S. are rapists, murderers, or drug runners. Latina women are obviously higher in the Trumpster’s womanizing esteem.
mitt_grund. Trump is so hor ny that he would crown a golf hole.
So Trump’s logic is: they read the wrong name for who gets elected President. So they should both share the presidency, right?
Why would you lie like this? Are you trying to be funny?
Rodger that! ACLU will be hearing about this.
Sorry but Trump brought it up first by opening his mouth. guess he is pathetic too.
Oh get over it, people. This is a “contest” that relies heavily on the way you happened to be born (your physical looks). As much as people try to justify this kind of superficial circus in saying that the contestants must show talent and answer interview questions, it is NOT based on skills or talent or education. It is based on the shallow attribute of looks/body/face (and of course the altering of their looks via fake hair, fake eyelashes, and fake breasts.)
Born? Many of these women are self-MADE by plastic surgeons and orthodontists. Nothing God-given there, just need a sugar daddy or other source of funds to pay the medical bills.
both of you just need to zip it! you no idea/clue what you are speaking of…
just sound like a bunch of haters!
Politicians have a fake brain?
Had Trump been in charge and awarded two Miss Universe crowns making a shared title, it would have been a terrible mistake. Miss Philippines deserves an unasterisked title all to herself.
How embarrassing for Miss Colombia. At least she got to wear the crown for a few minutes, before finding out it was a mistake.
Everyone needs to get over the mistake and concentrate on the real Miss Universe – Miss Philippines.
Who hired Steve Harvey to be MC anyway?
“Who hired Steve Harvey to be MC anyway?”
No idea, but I’m glad they did. Just about died laughing.
Who’s laughing now?
Laughing Cow brand?
…Cory. Call me if you need CRP.
CRP? Really? Are you really that dumb???
bubbaButt. Doesn’t matter wheat you call it now, because all you do now is pump the heart away to the music beat of the song, Staying Alive . No breathing into the mouth anymore.
Should have given the crown to miss Japan. She looked anything but japanese.
did France look French?!?….
French fry golden tan?
Should have crowned my Japanese Akita dogs.
Doesn’t the MC always announce who the 2nd runner up is then the 1st runner up, before announcing the winner?
All of them deserve to take first place in my heart.
Can’t understand you! Sometimes your comments are questionable then you come out like this noble and great post ! Well, overall you must have a very good and decent heart! 🙂
Hey SA, thanks for the happy face!
Late post, but if yiu guys really looked at the card he was given to read, you would see why he could have made the mistake. I felt like it was the pageants director (who is not Donald Trump anymore) should have let Harvey know about how it will look and the winner will be centered in big letters. Look at the card, you will see, you might have made the same mistake if you weren’t prompted as well.
Nice charitable comment. Late or not – kindness last forever! Have a great day!
Trump will always choose making money over helping people.
Steve Harvey made a mistake and took responsibility. The “man upped’ and said he mess up. What do people want? There are more pressing issues in this world. This is only a beauty contest.
It also didn’t help he spelled not one, but two countries’ names wrong on his apology tweet. I’m just wondering if he realizes how unprofessional he’s come across. If you don’t know how to spell a country’s name, google it instead of looking like a fool, again. I’m not sure how seriously he took his hosting duties.
Maybe we should go back to labeling a person by their Social Security number instead of using their name? That’s how the military does it. You’re just a number.
Steve Harvey is the Inspector Clouseau of the Miss Universe pageants……
And the winner of the presidential election is….Donald Trump! No wait, I made a mistake, it wasn’t Trump.
Colombia, Phillipines, etc. The title of this article should read Something Is Rotten In Denmark Today.