Steve Harvey Wants The Trumps And Obamas To Bring Their Beef To Family Feud
The game show "Celebrity Family Feud" takes the traditional "Family Feud" format and adds a star-studded twist: the contestants are famous families or groups of connected celebrities (like cast members from a television show). Comedian, host, and TV judge Steve Harvey became the "Celebrity Family Feud" host in 2010 and has been vocal about two well-known political families he wants to see duke it out on the show. In a People interview published in 2019, Harvey said, "Man, I want the Trumps against the Obamas at the same time."
Harvey wouldn't say who he thought would win such a matchup. Instead, Harvey said, "Well, we know who would be crazy on the Trumps' side." He laughed and added, "But that is just my dream. The Trumps versus the Obamas."
Although Harvey regretted meeting with Donald Trump in 2017 because of the backlash he faced, an interview following that contentious meeting had Harvey musing about the Trumps and the Obamas on his show.
'Saturday Night Live' imagined 'Celebrity Family Feud' with politicians
After Steve Harvey met with Donald Trump at Trump Tower in January 2017, he was questioned about hosting the then-president and his family on "Family Feud" since Trump apparently loved the show. Harvey chuckled at the thought. "The Trumps being on 'Family Feud'?" Harvey said. "Against the Obamas? That'd be good. Or how about the Clintons?" (via The Hill).
Harvey added, "If I could set it up, it would be skyrocketing for the ratings." Ironically, a few months prior to that discussion, "Saturday Night Live" did a sketch called "Celebrity Family Feud: Political Edition." The sketch aired about a month before the 2016 election. In it, Kenan Thompson played Harvey, and the other actors on the show (plus a few special guests) played Trump's allies on Team Trump versus Hillary Clinton's allies on Team Clinton.
Some of the sketch's highlights include an almost robotic Ivanka Trump (played by Margot Robbie) and a rapping Lin-Manuel Miranda (played by Cecily Strong).
The two politicians have yet to join the game show
Donald Trump was mentioned on an episode of "Celebrity Family Feud" — and painted in an unflattering light. In the 2018 episode featuring the Kardashian-Jenner family versus the West family, Harvey asked, "If you're at a wild party, and everyone is naked, name someone you'd hate to see show up."
When it was Kendall Jenner's turn to answer, she said, "Donald Trump." Harvey, the other contestants, and the crowd went wild with laughter. Jenner got her team a high number of points because "A celeb" was the top answer on the board. The clip of that moment on YouTube included comments from many people commending Jenner. One commenter said, "I just love how 'A celeb' flipped over instead of 'the president,'" with a laughing emoji.
Although the epic Trump family vs. Obama family "Celebrity Family Feud" battle royale has yet to happen, former president Barack Obama said in a 2013 interview with Harvey, "You can't take yourself too seriously. ... You have to take your responsibilities seriously, but you have to be able to laugh at yourself first and foremost in order to be able to manage the whole thing" (via YouTube). Maybe that means he'd be open to a game show appearance. If he and Trump competed, no doubt Trump would try to one-up Obama. Survey says... we can't know who would win until it happens.