TELEVISION host and comedian Steve Harvey would not be emceeing the Miss Universe beauty pageant this year that the Philippines will be hosting on Jan. 30 next year if President Rodrigo Duterte had his way, an official said Thursday.
Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said Duterte does not like Harvey, who mistakenly named first runner-up Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez as the winner of the 2015 beauty pageant instead of Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach.
“I don’t like him,” Teo quoted Duterte as saying.
“Let me talk to the organizers.”
Teo said the Philippines would gain much from hosting next year’s Miss Universe beauty contest.
“I’m sure that after the Miss Universe [beauty pageant], the Philippines will be in the world map,” Teo told reporters in Malacañang.
“Everybody will be looking at us because during the Miss Universe contest, all the beautiful places, the destinations will be featured.”
The Miss Universe beauty pageant will be a two-week event with the candidates and their delegations starting to arrive as early as Jan. 13.
Harvey, who is set to host the Miss Universe beauty pageant here, has told the Miss Universe Organization that he wants to personally apologize to the Filipinos for his mistake in 2015.
He apologized to Wurtzbach outside the venue in Colombia and later tweeted an apology to her and to Gutierrez.
Teo said that Duterte’s request might not be possible as Harvey was “actually under contract for five years.”
“Definitely, he is again going to host the Miss Universe [beauty pageant],” she said.