"I Don't Apologize About the Letter" Steve Harvey Speaks Out Following Leaked Scathing Email to Staff

Yesterday, Steve Harvey came under fire for the leaked memo he sent to his staff, telling them not to walk up to him in hallways to start a conversation. Following the backlash, the talk show host has now responded, clarifying his comments. He admitted that he could have handled the situation differently but stated that he will not apologise for it.

Speaking with ET's Kevin Frazier over the phone on Thursday, the 60-year-old TV host said:

"I could not find a way to walk from the stage to my dressing room, to sit in my makeup chair, to walk from my dressing room to the stage or to just sit and have lunch without somebody just walking in. I've always had a policy where, you know, you can come and talk to me -- so many people are great around here, but some of them just started taking advantage of it.

"Look man, I'm in my makeup chair, they walk in the room. I'm having lunch, they walk in, they don't knock. I'm in the hallway, I'm getting ambushed by people with friends that come to the show and having me sign this and do this. I just said, 'Wait a minute.' And in hindsight, I probably should've handled it a little bit differently.

Harvey continued on, telling ET that he sent the email "asking everyone to simply honor and respect" his privacy.

"If you come out your house, you don't want anybody on your porch waiting on you. You walk to your car, you don't want people bothering you on your way to your car. Everybody wants the freedom to be able to move around. I just didn't want to be in this prison anymore where I had to be in this little room, scared to go out and take a breath of fresh air without somebody approaching me, so I wrote the letter."

He added: "I don't apologize about the letter, but it's kind of crazy what people who took this thing and ran, man. I appreciate you asking me."