According to The Wrap, retired comedian-turned-TV-host Steve Harvey has no desire to return to the stage where he made his name. “The only way I can do one more special, is that it would have be to at the end of my television career, because it will end my television career,” Harvey quipped, during ABC’s recent Television Critics Association press tour. He elaborated, “We’re in the cancel culture, and nobody, no stand-up [comic] alive that is sponsor-driven can say anything he wants to. Chris Rock can’t, Kevin Hart can’t, Cedric the Entertainer can’t. I can go down the list. The only person that can say what they want to say is Dave Chappelle because he’s not sponsor-driven, he’s subscription-driven.”
To Harvey’s point, Chapelle was heavily criticized for making transphobic jokes during the Netflix special “The Closer,” per The Wrap. However, unlike the other comedians Harvey name-checked, Chappelle works almost exclusively with Netflix, so he’s more free to say whatever he likes. “Political correctness has killed comedy,” Harvey told The Wrap. For the former stand-up comedian, “a joke has to be about something … Some of these jokes have to be about people because that’s the most interesting topic.” Fans hoping to see him return to the stage someday will have to wait until Harvey is finished with his TV career and can bow out without fear of reprisal.
