Twitter drags Steve Harvey for ‘rich people don’t sleep 8 hours a day’ comments

UPDATE: Not a great week for Steve Harvey. Not only did he lose his talk show, AJC's Rodney Ho reports Harvey also lost a hosting gig on NBC's "Little Big Shots" to Melissa McCarthy.

Original story:

Comedian Steve Harvey is catching heat for some unsolicited advice he recently gave during his talk show.

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“Rich people don’t sleep eight hours a day!” the Family Feud host told his studio audience in a video that’s since gone viral online. “That’s a third of your life. It ain’t but 24 hours in a day. You cannot be sleep eight hours a day. You can’t live in L.A. and wake up at 8 o’clock in the morning. It’s 11 o’clock on the east coast. The stock market (has) been open two hours. They already making decisions about your life and your a-s was sleep.”

He ended the spiel with a Bible verse.

“The Bible says, ‘He who loves to sleep and the folding of hands, poverty will set upon you like a thief in the night.’”

It didn’t take long for the Twitter roast to begin, with folks interpreting his comments as saying the rich have wealth because they don’t sleep as much as the not so wealthy.

Others turned to scientific research, which has already pointed to a racial divide in sleep.

"Evidence from molecular biology, epidemiology, and psychology points to the idea that poor sleep is a risk factor for heart disease, diabetes, and obesity—which are all ailments that disproportionately affect black communities," The Atlantic reported in 2015.

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In general, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society recommends a sweet spot of at least seven hours for adults ages 18-60 years.

But according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of Americans still don't get enough sleep.

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"Lifestyle changes such as going to bed at the same time each night; rising at the same time each morning; and turning off or removing televisions, computers, mobile devices from the bedroom, can help people get the healthy sleep they need," Wayne Giles, director of CDC's Division of Population Health, said in a 2016 report.

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