Top US comedian Steve Harvey talks about the UAE, Miss Universe blooper, and Kanye West

Gulf News

Steve Harvey talks to Gulf News on why UAE is the safest place on earth and how money makes the world go round.  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/sport/golf-in-uae/steve-harvey-on-why-uae-is-the-worlds-safest-inclusive-diverse-and-peaceful-place-on-earth-1.92042262  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #steveharvey #missuniverse

Transcript

00:00Listen, because you're a celebrity, don't make you smart.

00:05Stereotypes are everywhere, so perhaps you could tell us,

00:08have you been successful in that mission of making UAE show the real side of it?

00:14We've done some things and we've put a huge dent in it,

00:17but there's still a ways to go.

00:20There are people who don't understand that the GCC is different regions.

00:27We still got work to do to convey that message to people because they don't understand.

00:32I mean, I tell people all the time how great this place is.

00:34There's a lot of work to do, but I think slowly we're getting there.

00:38You know, we just got a lot more things we have to do to help fix that.

00:43Do you think celebrities can hold a lot of weight?

00:46I mean, that's what you are here for.

00:48Like, you know, do greater good.

00:49Use your star power, perhaps your celebrity clout.

00:53Celebrity, of course, brings the spotlight brighter

00:57because we travel with a very big spotlight on us.

01:00You know, there's no way around it and we draw attention.

01:04So it's quicker to get the message out.

01:06But at the same time, you introduce them to a lifestyle that they've never seen before.

01:11Because until you come to the UAE, you haven't seen this before on Earth.

01:15You have not seen this on Earth.

01:17There is no place like it.

01:19I promise you that I've been everywhere.

01:21I've been everywhere.

01:22There's no place like it.

01:24Where is this much peace at?

01:25Where can you have this much peace, safety and inclusion?

01:29They fall prey to the propaganda like everybody else.

01:33They fall prey to the rumors like everybody else.

01:36These people, we can't get to come here

01:39because they have a misunderstanding of what it is and their mind is not open.

01:47Listen, because you're a celebrity, don't make you smart.

01:50You know, I mean, listen, man, you know,

01:52hard to keep saying you're a genius and you keep saying stuff that's very ungenius like.

01:57Celebrities are good to a degree and they can become,

02:01like we said, great ambassadors for here.

02:03And some of them are.

02:04But we still have convincing to do because we got to erase misconceptions about the region.

02:11I don't know.

02:12And they don't know.

02:13But everybody that comes here gets it.

02:17Ah, man, the basketball players, they were here.

02:19Yeah, they were telling me they was going like.

02:23There's a lot of fun to be had in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, the UAE.

02:26What are the fun things that you've done?

02:28I've seen your diaries.

02:29It's been pretty nice, like hanging out with Bollywood star when we sing.

02:33Yeah, that was my man.

02:34I love that dude.

02:36I just met him.

02:36That's my dude.

02:38That's my dude.

02:39He got hair.

02:39I don't have no hair.

02:40That's my man.

02:41Bollywood, baby.

02:42I love the guy as soon as I met him.

02:45And every time I see him, I hope to do because.

02:48And he loves it here because he goes, man, Steve, you can just be yourself.

02:52That's like us.

02:54And that's hard.

02:55So, you know, I've met a lot of people here.

02:57But everybody that comes here, once you stay, you get it.

03:00You get it.

03:01And you will come back.

03:02I ain't never heard nobody say that.

03:03I ain't going back over there.

03:04I've never heard that.

03:05It's 200 nationalities here.

03:09If you're a bigot or racist, you have a hard time.

03:14You've been have a bad day.

03:16You got to hate everybody.

03:17Yeah, it's multicultural.

03:19Yeah, the fabric of every other person.

03:21You got to get your hate bag on.

03:23I hate her.

03:24I hate him.

03:25I hate him.

03:26Oh, no, I hate him.

03:28You might you should go somewhere else.

03:30That is true.

03:31If you are a bigot and a racist, there's no place.

03:34This is not the place for you.

03:36You know, and it's just a diversity and inclusive and inclusiveness.

03:39Whatever your faith is, they fine with that.

03:42Were you always this sure about what you wanted to do in life?

03:45Because I have seen I've read so much about you,

03:48that you said you are a car insurance salesman to homeless person,

03:52to a millionaire and a billionaire.

03:54Then you run a dating app, helping them.

03:58I've been figuring it out.

04:00I've been figuring it out the whole time.

04:02You don't get to, you know, very few people know what it is right away.

04:06You got to go through the process.

04:09But everything you're going through is God preparing you for what you ask for.

04:13God knew that where I wanted to go, I had to be tough.

04:17So he had to allow stuff to happen to me that toughened me up.

04:22He knew that I was going to have to be

04:26a humble and a grateful person to get to where I'm going.

04:31So guess what he did?

04:32He took everything from me that humbled me.

04:35And then that made me appreciative when I had it.

04:37I asked God to increase my global brand and persona.

04:42Yes.

04:42He made me the host of Miss Universe in 2015.

04:46He had me say the wrong name.

04:48In 48 hours, my name had been Googled 4 billion times.

04:53I was 4 billion in 48 hours.

04:57I was the most Googled person on planet earth in 48 hours.

05:02He had increased my global brand and persona.

05:06You did.

05:06Now I appreciate the way he did it.

05:10One of the biggest fiascos ever on TV.

05:14I made 100 times the money I made for hosting Miss Universe.

05:21Over 100 times the money.

05:23I learned from that moment behind every moment of adversity.

05:26There's two things.

05:28There's a lesson and there's a blessing.

05:30Great mistake.

05:32I'll say the wrong name again if they give me that much money.

05:36Ever since 2015, I have four armed security guards at my home.

05:42Two at the front gate, two at the back gate.

05:4424-7.

05:45He's been in my house.

05:47Oh, I didn't think of geopolitics really into this.

05:50I have armed guards at my house 24 hours a day.

05:55Okay.

05:56So it altered your life, right?

05:58That moment must have altered your life then.

06:00Very much so.

06:01It was very dangerous for my family.

06:03Oish and I met about five years ago, formed a friendship.

06:06And shortly after that, we formed a business.

06:09It's really hard to work with people you don't like.

06:12And it's impossible to work with someone who doesn't want to work with you.

06:16Because a partnership is a marriage in a different form.

06:21And whether it's your customer that doesn't want to work with you

06:25or it's your partner that doesn't want to work with you,

06:28they both result in a relationship that doesn't work.

06:33I don't care how much you put into it.

06:35You can always be critical and turn the situation upside down.

06:41So I think there should be boundaries.

06:44I do agree that sometimes it can be difficult working with family.

06:48I have a lot of family I work with, a lot of brothers I work with.

06:53And you can't work with all your friends.

06:55However, I think when myself and Mr. Harvey met,

07:00it was a lot more than just a friendship.

07:04We instantly recognized.

07:07It almost felt like a moment of destiny where we read each other's energy

07:14and saw each other's belief systems were aligned.

07:19Steve, do you ever look back on your own life

07:21and think I've reached so far?

07:23I've made it?

07:24Yeah, everything.

07:27Yeah.

07:31I was telling him this morning,

07:34as much as we want to happen, as much as we're working on,

07:38as much as we're trying so hard to get these deals done and signed,

07:45I got a really great life anyway.

07:50Like I told the people in the villa,

07:51I may have to extend the villa for a week.

07:53The lady said, you have to pay in advance.

07:56I said, OK.

07:59She bought a credit card machine over.

08:01No, you have to pay right now.

08:02OK.

08:06And I told him, I said, hey, man, she just asked for a lot of money.

08:13And I just gave it to her without even thinking.

08:16That's a blessing.

08:17True that.

08:18When I grew up, it wasn't like that.

08:20I grew up very poor.

08:23My father was a coal miner.

08:24My father made $5 a day.

08:29We had five kids.

08:31We lived in a house my father and his brothers built.

08:36I never flushed a toilet till I was six years old.

08:39We had no running water.

08:41The toilet was across the street in an outhouse.

08:46That's how I grew up.

08:48I was homeless at 30.

08:50I lived in a car for three years.

08:52Yeah.

08:53Now I got cars you can live in.

08:55I got really expensive cars, man.

08:58I got cars.

08:58You can go live in my car right now.

09:00I got cars.

09:01You sell my car right now, go buy three houses.

09:04That's God's grace and favor.

09:06Right.

09:06I'm nothing but grace and favor.

09:09Because it's not that I'm that special of a person.

09:13It's just that God's grace and favor was on me.

09:17I worked hard, but it still was his grace.

09:20He just gave me favor.

09:22Money's important.

09:25My father told me something when I was a little boy that I never forgot.

09:29He said, son, the best thing you could do for poor people is not be one of them.

09:35He said, you can't help nobody.

09:39He said, when you get money, you can help somebody.

09:43And then my mother was a Sunday school teacher.

09:45She said, God blesses you to become a blessing.

09:49My mama used to say, you can't get a big house up on the hill

09:51and then don't teach nobody how to get up on the hill with you.

09:55So my whole thing is to tell everybody how to get up on the hill.

10:00That's my whole life.

10:01I'll never have the money of Elon Musk or I won't have the money of Bill Gates or nothing like that.

10:09I got enough.

10:10I'm good.

10:11But you can be happy with a lot less money.

10:13Yes, that's true.

10:14Now, money don't make you happy, but it don't.

10:17You could be very, you could, if you're living in your purpose, then you could be happy.

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