Steve Harvey addresses Miss Universe mix up on air

“Why the hell would I do that?” he said. “I’m already famous. Do you really think I wanted to be famous like this?”

He alluded to a buggy teleprompter, but took responsibility.

“Did I make a mistake? Yes I did. I’m not in the finger pointing business and rolling other people under the bus."

Harvey stressed that he did not miss any rehearsals: “I went to more rehearsals than I’ve ever gone to for anything. I did the whole table read. I was there for the entire dress rehearsal.”

He described the moments right after he announced the wrong winner as chaotic.

“All I hear is confusion backstage,” he said. “I’m standing there in the wing. I got a guy in my ear going, we gotta do something. I had to walk out there and do what I thought was the right thing.”