One of Steve Harvey’s former employees is trying to make a $5 million come up from some alleged “racist rants” caught on video. But, Steve fires back with a lawsuit. Details inside…
Steve Harvey is one of the hardest working men in showbiz right now. He has built a $100 million empire with his radio show, TV shows, books and more. And a Dallas man who happens to be one of his former employees wants a piece of the pie.
According to Radar Online, a Dallas man named Joseph Cooper is gunning for $5 million from his former boss over some tapes he has of Steve allegedly going off about white people.
Jospeh claims to have video footage of the “Family Fued” host going on insane “racist rants” where he allegedly spews hateful comments about white people saying things like “spit on white people!” and “go assault old white women!”
In court documents obtained by the site, Steve claims Joseph is trying to sell old videos of his comedy routines that were made over 20 years ago.
“Mr. Cooper has initiated a campaign to essentially extort me, coerce me and embarrass me as I started to build my entertainment career,” Steve claims in the documents.
Apparently, Joseph has been trying to sell these tapes to Steve’s employers whenever he’s hired to host a television show to “inform them of potentially embarrassing material and or tapes and attempt to have them influence Harvey to pay for the tapes.”
In an interview with the site, Joseph slams Steve as “the worst person that’s ever been on television” and he feels that everyone needs to know about what’s on the explosive audio tapes.
Joseph reportedly created 120 hours worth of tapes after he was hired by Steve in March of 1993 to videotape his comedy acts from shows he put on in Dallas. Obviously, shows he performed before building the “good guy” brand he has today.
In court documents obtained from a deposition, the comedian admitted that the tapes contain material that is “a lot edgier” than the family-oriented jokes he now uses.
Sounds like he’s taking Steve’s old shows out on context for a quick come up. We all know Steve’s comedy was a lot raunchier than the jokes he tells these days. The judge will have the final say and we'll be following the story.
Photos: Getty