Steve Harvey has seemingly been catching strays online ever since fellow comedian Katt Williams slammed him and other comics during an interview on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast on Jan. 3.
Fans have pulled clips of Mark Curry previously accusing Harvey of stealing his Halloween joke after Williams claimed his “Kings of Comedy” co-star Cedric The Entertainer stole his joke for their special.
Now, Gary Owen has come forth to share his experience about previously working with Harvey on his talk show on his “Getsome with Gary Owen” podcast. The daytime show aired for three seasons from 2014 to 2017.
“I just did ‘Hip Hop Squares,’ the show DeRay [Davis] used to host, and I filmed three episodes in one day on ‘Hip Hop Squares’ and made four times the money I made doing two weeks of ‘The Steve Harvey Show,’” he said.
The “Ride Along” actor explained how he got a spot on Harvey’s talk show after appearing as a guest to promote his reality show. It said during over two weeks each filmed two episodes per day.
“It was only two people on the show every week, it was me and Steve,” Owen further explained, noting that he acted as the voice announcer on the show. “I just pretty much said, ‘Give it up for Steve Harvey,’ and I announced the guests and go back to my dressing room.”
Harvey allegedly approached Owen later about making money and bringing him on as a “sidekick” of the show and a “spinoff” with the two comics. But Owen developed a “bad feeling” early on after a lunch meeting with one of the talk show’s producers who shot down all of his comedy pitches.
“He’s shooting everything down. He goes, ‘No, no, we’ll handle that. We’ll handle the sketches,'” but as an artist, he wanted creative control of how he made people laugh.
“You ain’t gon’ tell me that whatever you’re coming up with is funnier than what I’m coming up with,” said Owen.
The 49-year-old said he was not involved in any of the show sketches during those two weeks, noting that he was paid “SAG minimum … minimum wage is what I got paid.”
Owen claims he realized that he couldn’t survive on that small living wage, especially when he “didn’t know if they were going to hire me or not.” He added, “I can’t take a month off basically.”
The clip from Owen’s interview was shared on Instagram via Hollywood Unlocked, where fans in the comment section seem to applaud the “Think Like a Man” actor for sharing his truth.
“Y’all better put some respect on Gary’s name talking about sit this one out. Gary been in the Game since the early 90s on Comic View and Dej Comedy Jam. He has the right to share his experience just like the rest of the comedians,” said one person, while another said, “Dis too much….this is about to be a year of exposure.”
If you weren't aware of Gary Owen when he was hosting Comic View I dont wanna hear your thoughts on him
— Senior Exec. Transpondster (@RampageStew) November 20, 2020
A handful defended Owen against critics who believed he was blaming Steve for not receiving a fair wage. “The blogs are being messy. He wasn’t blaming Steve. He was blaming the production company.”
Owen clarified that “this is not on Steve Harvey. This is the powers that be behind the scenes.” He claims the A-list guests as well as the social media influencers and YouTubers were treated better and received better dressing rooms than he did.
He said his room was as small as a closet, had no bathroom and came with a “desk that was broken down with a chair.” Owen said it wasn’t until a Black woman came along that he got a decent-sized dressing room with a bathroom: “Here comes Black woman to the rescue.”
Many online began attacking Harvey and how he failed to help his friend get paid.
But one opposing viewer said, “I’m not hopping on the Steve Harvey hate train ! SMH all because Katt Williams went to club shay shay whining.”
Shannon Sharpe is not a good interviewer but I like that he let Katt Williams cook. This Gary Owen reference is a BAR! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/jHHqN6jFa1
— Media Liarz (@MediaLiarz) January 4, 2024
Elsewhere during the podcast, Owen said no one would play Money Mike in Ice Cube’s “Friday After Next” movie but Williams. He said he didn’t agree with everything that was said but he “can see where Katt’s coming from.”
He also expressed his belief that Williams “took it personal” when Rickey Smiley claimed that he was supposed to be Money Mike after auditioning for the role first during his appearance on “Club Shay Shay” last April.
