I suppose by now you’ve all seen it, the infamous clip of Steve Harvey announcing the winner of Miss Universe wrong. If you missed it here’s what all the buzz was about.
Yep, he read the card, but he read it wrong, and because of that slip he’s the talk of the Internet. Well, if his flub serves any purpose, perhaps it can teach us all a few things.
1. Everyone messes up. This isn’t his first rodeo. He’s kinda used to hosting in front of television cameras, and even reading cue cards with ease. So what happened?
Survey says…
Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone. Nobody is immune, no matter your experience, celebrity status, or income. Race doesn’t matter, and neither does gender. We are all subject to slipping up, to making an “epic fail,” and to suffering the consequences of our mistakes.
It makes me kinda sad that folks are slamming on him so hard. I can’t imagine if my daily fouls were subject to replay across social media.
2. People will kick you when you’re down. It doesn’t matter that we all make mistakes, and that none of us is immune to falling short. People will conveniently forget that when someone else slips. In an effort to feel better about their own faults they will likely point out yours.
It’s like, “I know I’m pretty screwed up, but hey, look at that guy. At least I didn’t do that!”
Look, I’m not saying if you laughed at a Steve Harvey meme that you’re a heel, or an awful Meany McMeanerson, but I am pointing at human nature. We all tend to forget that mistakes happen to us all, and that grace and forgiveness are needed by each and every person on this planet. End of story.
3. The best reaction is owning up to your mistake. If anything can be gleaned from the video of Steve Harvey, it is this. He immediately righted his wrong as best as he was able. Then he took responsibility.
He didn’t blame it on tiny print or anything else for that matter. He owned it. He apologized. He elevated the other people involved who had suffered from his mistake.
He said, “don’t blame them.” He humbly explained, “I made a mistake.” And he took responsibility.
It’s not easy to admit when you mess up, but grace and forgiveness only come when you confess where you fell short. God will take care of your haters, but you gotta take the first step to moving past a failure and moving on.
While this is the story of the hour for today, and it will remain with those personally involved for some time, before the rest of the planet knows it the fiasco will be a distant memory. And I think Mr. Harvey’s reaction after his misstep will serve like water off a duck’s back. He’ll be just fine, and we’ll all find someone else to make fun of.
*Of note, race and gender were only mentioned by me above because I saw this was brought up by many on Twitter. Sad really.