On Wednesday Steve Harvey announced that Paula Deen would be on his show to discuss mentoring 100 black boys from the Steve Harvey Mentoring Camp. Social media didn’t take this too well. Many wondered why Harvey would invite a woman like Deen, who has a history of being a racist.
Harvey stated that he wanted to allow Deen and her team to teach culinary skills to the boys who attend his mentoring camp. The boys who attend the camp are fatherless, and during their camp experience they are taught principles of manhood. Harvey said that doing this “is how you get something from something.”
Harvey knew he would receive backlash but said, “I don’t give a damn.” In response to the news, people on Twitter expressed their displeasure. Twitter user Mikki Kendall created the hashtag #Paulamentoring to figure out what Deen could possibly teach a group of black kids.
https://twitter.com/Karnythia/status/517389914540109824https://twitter.com/RatchetJesusJC/status/517394679013584897https://twitter.com/alishagaines/status/517398437285748736https://twitter.com/LowKeyLeftE/status/517405422496780288https://twitter.com/357QUE/status/517485462173151232https://twitter.com/femmeminem/status/517401258609500161https://twitter.com/blurbette/status/517394291921264642
But like Harvey said, he didn’t give a damn about the criticism he knew he would receive. Unfortunately, these are the attitudes people get when they forget that their fan base is how they became successful.
Hopefully the parents of the boys attending the mentoring camp will express their displeasure at having Deen and her team around their children. Maybe next time Harvey can have Donald Sterling on to give his campers some basketball advice.