Known for his dapper and impeccably coordinated suits, Steve Harvey knew he couldn’t disappoint on the very day that he was set to receive the 2,497th star on Tinseltown’s Walk of Fame. What to wear? Albeit an old-school music lover, Harvey took a page out of rapper Trinidad James’ playbook: “All gold everything.” The actor, author, TV host and all-around funnyman drew inspiration from Hollywood Boulevard itself in choosing his custom suit for the May 13 ceremony. “I figured that all the stars on the ground were gold, so I said, ‘I’m going with gold.’”
For friends such as Cedric the Entertainer, the recognition—and the custom threads—prove that Harvey, whose star is steps away from that of Lena Horne, has come a long way. “We were not suited and booted back when we first started,” says Cedric, who recalls when the pair wore fake Versace shirts to a gig. On hand to congratulate his fellow King of Comedy, Cedric added, “It’s been
a ride neither of us could have imagined.”
Despite the sweltering 91-degree heat, Samuel L. Jackson, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Harvey’s fellow radio personalities and even Omega Psi Phi, Inc. frat brothers celebrated while Dr. Phil and Ellen DeGeneres spoke about Harvey’s accomplishments. “I read your book, but it did not help me get a man,” joked DeGeneres of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. What began as the “Strawberry Letter” on his morning radio show morphed into a New York Times bestseller and, eventually, a box-office hit.
“I used to walk and look at all of the stars on the Walk of Fame, and I couldn’t even fathom that enough people would even know me to honor me with that,” says Harvey, who fought back tears onstage before his seven children and his beaming wife Marjorie. “Twenty years later, after grinding and hustling, I
have a star.”
