The meat between Steve Harvey and Bernie Mac didn’t begin with stolen jokes. It didn’t begin over somebody blocking the opposite from getting a task in a giant movie. In accordance with one of many males behind “Def Comedy Jam,” the 2 began to have points over a girl. Form of.
In a resurfaced July 2024 interview on “The Artwork of Dialogue,” Bob Sumner, who helped launch “Def Comedy Jam” with Russell Simmons, defined that the rivalry escalated when Harvey began getting his fits from Chicago-based designer Barbara Bates, who had already been working with Mac.
“Effectively, I can say this to you: Bernie and Steve had already been within the sport, OK? That they had already had that little rivalry occurring earlier than ‘Def Comedy Jam,’ you hear me? Earlier than Kings of Comedy and all that. So, that was identical to one thing that was taking place,” Sumner recalled.
Bates opened her boutique, Bates Designs, in 1986 in Chicago’s South Loop.
She shortly grew to become one of many metropolis’s most in-demand bespoke tailors, recognized for mixing leather-based, python, crocodile, and superb materials into eye-catching fits. Her designs featured pleated leather-based accents, signature pockets, and daring coloration palettes — excellent for comics attempting to face out on stage.
“However I feel that what actually used to drive them nuts was when Steve began getting a pair {dollars}, proper? Steve obtained turned on to this girl in Chicago by the identify of Barbara Bates. … And Bernie had already been down along with her as a result of she was from Chicago, you realize what I’m saying?” Sumner continued.
Sumner added that their competitors wasn’t nearly materials. It was symbolic.
“So now it was like … they used to have the battle within the fits, man,” he mentioned. “And I actually really feel that their rivalry or no matter you need to name it began extra with their apparel than the rest, man, you realize? And it’s loopy as a result of they weren’t carrying fits at first; Invoice Bellamy was the man carrying the fits.”
As soon as “The Artwork of Dialogue” and TLYoungboss reposted the interview, followers chimed in with their takes.
One person wrote, “That’s some old school stuff proper there.”
One other added, “Yeah Chicago dudes don’t play about niggas tryna store at they retailer.”
A 3rd posted, “Hahaha it may possibly’t be that! I feel it’s additionally the woman not simply the fits.”
One other merely joked, “Sounds extra just like the go well with maker than the fits lol.”
Whereas Bates’ fits could have sparked the feud, different points surfaced through the years.
In April 2024, former radio host Ed Lover claimed Mac as soon as advised him that Harvey tried to take his half in “Ocean’s Eleven.”
“All I can say is what Bernie advised me,” Lover mentioned on “The Tradition Membership.” “And he was upset with Steve as a result of he mentioned Steve tried to get him taken off of Ocean’s — the Ocean’s film he did … and tried to vie for his half after he already obtained employed. And, uh, Bernie by no means lied to me. That’s all I’m going to say. He was my buddy. I liked him.”
The friction was seen throughout the 2000 Unique Kings of Comedy tour with Cedric the Entertainer and D.L. Hughley.
Cedric addressed the strain throughout a 2022 look on “Membership Shay Shay”: “They each alpha males. They each … they only noticed it totally different. However on the finish of the day, they was in a position to get by means of it.”
A resurfaced clip from a 2000 radio interview throughout the tour’s press run confirmed Mac cracking a joke in a Charlotte station’s studio as Harvey sat off to the facet with what many known as a cool expression whereas Cedric laughed and Hughley appeared to be occupied with the joke.
Regardless of every part, Harvey has tried to indicate respect to Mac lately. In 2016, he devoted an episode of “The Steve Harvey Present” to honor the late comic, that includes Mac’s household, Cedric, Hughley, Man Torry, and Mike Epps. When Mac’s widow Rhonda, spoke about his legacy and the continued love from followers, Harvey grew emotional, tearing up on air. Some viewers, after listening to the rumors for thus lengthy, nonetheless query if the show was real.
Mac, born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, handed away in 2008 at age 50 after a protracted battle with sarcoidosis. His legacy nonetheless lives on by means of his hefty physique of labor throughout tv and movie.
