Cedric The Entertainer Says Steve Harvey & Bernie Mac’s Beef During ‘The Original Kings Of Comedy’ Contributed To Their Failure To Reunite For Another Tour

Cedric The Entertainer Says Steve Harvey & Bernie Mac’s Beef During ‘The Original Kings Of Comedy’ Contributed To Their Failure To Reunite For Another Tour

Was there a battle of the crowns between Hollywood heavy-hitters Steve Harvey and Bernie Mac amid ‘The Original Kings of Comedy’ filming?

During a recent episode of three-time Super Bowl champion Shannon Sharpe’s podcast ‘Club Shay Shay,’ actor/comedian Cedric the Entertainer briefly opened up about the historical run of the stand-up comedy film and the controversy that came along with it — on and off the iconic stage.

If you didn’t know, directed by the honorable Spike Lee, ‘The Original Kings of Comedy’ was an uber-successful stand-up comedy film that documented legendary acts from Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, and the late Bernie Mac on the Kings of Comedy tour.

(left to right) D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey, and Bernie Mac

Shot before a live audience at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, ‘The Original Kings of Comedy‘ was filmed in 2000 and chronicled the comedic foursome’s rambunctious personalities, preparations, and performances in front of the crowd and behind the scenes.

The raw-and-uncut raunchiness of the recording ultimately garnered nationwide popularity, bringing in a whopping $38 million at the box office. However, of course, along with the million-dollar madness also came mayhem beyond the microphones.

Whispers of what truly sparked Steve Harvey and Bernie Mac’s rumored beef have been swirling for quite some time now, but… no one really knows what happened–unless they were there. According to Cedric the Entertainer, it looks like egos may have brought on a sense of competition for the two men.

Cedric the Entertainer

When asked if it was true about the comics butting heads while taping, Cedric said:

“Yeah, yeah… I mean, you know, they were the kind of guys that… they both Alpha males. You know, like, they both, they just saw it different–you know what I’m saying? But, at the end of the day, they was able to get through it.”

Harvey’s ‘The Steve Harvey Show’ co-star continued by letting us in on whether or not the feud is what eventually caused the entertainment quartet not to reunite for another tour.

“I think, of course, that was, you know, definitely a contributing circumstance, but I also think that it had a lot to do with promoter on the thing because he got a bigger head than all of us. The dude that put us all together started to really think it was about him. So, it started to be that. So, it was a lot of those kinds of elements.”

The 58-year-old didn’t necessarily go into detail about Harvey and Mac’s disagreement(s), but in a 2003 interview with GQ Magazine, Mac claimed that Harvey was jealous of his rise to stardom and even tried to sabotage certain movie roles that he was obtaining at the time.

Steve Harvey

Harvey later addressed Mac’s statements in a 2010 segment of ‘Conversations with Ed Gordon’ on BET, expressing that it upset him to hear that coming from someone he’s had “good times” with. He then said Mac actually denied ever saying such things.

“I was upset at first because it just wasn’t true. Me and Bernie had a lot of good times together and then this article in GQ came out and put all this vicious stuff in there. B said he never said it. I had to take him at his word for it.”

Additionally, three years ago, D.L. Hughley touched on their issues in a video on VladTV, as well as Damon Williams–who opened for the fellas–during an interview with Comedy Hype.

D.L. Hughley recalled being in talks with his tour mates about the possibility of a ‘Kings of Comedy’ return, but it soon went sour.

He started off with,

“I remember I was at the golf course, and we were getting ready to put [the tour] together. And everybody was all excited.”

The renewed host continued, indicating that Harvey and Mac’s problems played a part in it not happening.

“We was together, we were all excited, and the next day it didn’t happen. Essentially, you know, Bernie felt like he didn’t want to do it anymore. He was on his own path, and Steve [too]. So, uh, you know, nothing like that ever happens or doesn’t happen for a reason. So, I was disappointed, but I understood that those kinds of things happen, and I just got the memory of being with cats that I loved.”

Damon Williams also remembered feeling a tad of tension coming from Mac, who often commented on Williams having to cut certain things out of his set due to Harvey having similar topics in his routine.

Damon Williams and Kym Whitley

After suffering from sarcoidosis (an inflammatory disease that affects the organs), Bernie Mac died on August 9, 2008, from complications from pneumonia, which is often produced by the illness.

Following Mac’s passing, Harvey was able to make peace with their past matters, which he explained in his sit-down with Ed Gordon.

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