Lifestyle

Steve Harvey Appears in Dallas Courtroom to Prevent Spread of Tapes

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Comedian and TV host Steve Harvey attended federal court in Dallas on Tuesday to fight the release of old comedy tapes. Allegedly, videographer Joseph Cooper has video of a standup gig Harvey did when he was young, and Cooper says Harvey signed a contract to allow him to release the content. Harvey claims that he never signed a contract and that he owns the tape. He doesn’t want the video to be released in any way due to its content.

Fox 4 News says that Cooper claims the early 1990s standup act features several racist jokes that embarrass an older and more mature Harvey. Harvey maintains that the man is trying to extort him by threatening the release of the video and hinting at its content.

According to CBS DFW, Harvey took the stand and said, “I just have this cloud over my career that he’s created over me — he’s just relentless…I’ve got more to lose as I get bigger…in this business, image is everything.”

When Cooper took the stand, he apologized “for some of the phone calls he’d made in the past,” but he still pushed for a payment of $10 million in damages due to a “broken contract.”