Steve Harvey Draws Backlash for 'Disrespectful' Colombian Cartel Joke During Miss Universe

Four years after his infamous Miss Universe mix-up, Steve Harvey came under fire once again while hosting the pageant, this time over a series of jokes he made about the country of Colombia.

Harvey first made the “cartel” comment during his opening monologue, and brought it up again while speaking in the first round with Miss Colombia Gabriela Tafur. While telling Tafur that she had made it into the Top 20, Harvey addressed the 2015 incident, in which he mistakenly declared 2015’s Miss Colombia as the pageant’s winner instead of Miss Philippines.

After Tafur told Harvey, “I forgive you,” the host, 62, tried to joke that “the cartel” had not.

“You forgive me. Yeah, they haven’t, not the cartel,” Harvey replied, gesturing out to the crowd. “They’re not handling it the same way.”

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The comment promptly sparked backlash on social media, with many taking issue with Harvey’s generalization of the country’s population.

“Absolutely disrespectful the joke of the ‘cartels,” one social media user wrote on Twitter. “We are a great country full of good people and we don’t deserve that image anymore. Surprising how ignorant a host can be, recommend you to open a book once in a while.”

“It’s not funny, it’s offensive,” added another. “Be respectful and Stop joking about it!!! Stop the ignorance!!!”

“Steve Harvey talking about Colombia’s cartels is not funny,” reporter Victoria Leandra wrote.

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Others also called for Harvey to step down as host of the pageant.

“The ‘joke’ that Steve Harvey said two times about the colombian cartel, is disrespectful and xenophobic. He shouldn’t be presenter never again,” one Twitter user wrote, adding that Harvey should also have to apologize for his words.

Minnesota Rep. Jon Koznick also weighed in, writing, “Not cool @MissUniverse /Steve Harvey. Just FYI it’s rude to make jokes about any countries past & serious issues like that. Jeez Harvey. Maybe time for a new host.”

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Reps for Harvey and Miss Universe did not immediately return PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

Harvey also drew heat for an apparent teleprompter mix-up, in which he referred to Miss Malaysia as Miss Philippines.

While announcing the National Costume Contest winner, Harvey said, “Here’s a look at the winner, Philippines.”

He was standing next to Miss Malaysia Shweta Sekhon, who grabbed the mic from Harvey and said, “It’s not Philippines, it’s Malaysia.”

“Okay, well, let me explain something to you. I just read that in the teleprompter. Y’all got to quit doing this to me,” Harvey replied, addressing the show’s producers. “I can read, they said now, they’re trying to fix it now. See, this what they did to me back in 2015. Played me short like that. This is Malaysia. I really love this national costume of Malaysia. This is crazy.”

As it turns out, Harvey did announce the correct winner after all.

“Miss Universe Philippines Gazini Ganados is the winner of the Miss Universe 2019 National Costume competition,” the Miss Universe Organization said in a statement to PEOPLE. “As part of the broadcast, we also featured Miss Universe Malaysia Shweta Sekhon’s national costume. No mistakes regarding the national costume winner were made by him, the prompter or production.”