Steve Harvey Implies Exit From NBC Daytime Talk Show After Kelly Clarkson's New Deal

Steve Harvey's daytime talk show, Steve, may be coming to an end at NBC.

The 61-year-old comedian was a headline speaker at the Variety Entertainment Summit on Wednesday, where he said he didn't know if he was going to stay with the network with the arrival of Kelly Clarkson's new show. 

“I thought I was, until they made an announcement a couple weeks ago that they wanted to give Kelly Clarkson the owned-and-operated NBC networks -- that’s my slot," Harvey said. "I don't know if it sold, it's not selling like they thought, but I thought it would have been nice of them to come to me -- as the only dude who’s survived [in daytime TV] for seven years -- about it."

“So when you do that, I gotta make announcements too,” he continued. “ ... I'm working. It will be something real cute.”

Harvey is clearly not happy with the way things were handled and noted that his ratings were still strong.

"You know, I'm an honorable guy," he said. "I'm just an old school guy, and I just thought that you're supposed to just talk to people and just go, 'Look, you've been good business for us. This is what we're thinking of doing, are you OK with that?' No, you just don't put something in the paper and say, 'I'm just going to make this move right here,' because it's crazy."

However, a source tells ET that Harvey and IMG, his agency that also co-produces Steve, were told -- and made well aware of -- the Kelly Clarkson daytime show before an announcement was made.

Steve has already been renewed for the 2018-2019 season. But the comedian said that daytime TV is "dying."

“My show, Steve, is the only show in the last seven years in syndication that has stuck," he commented.

Harvey also noted that hosting a daytime talk show has been hard on his health when asked about his good friend, Ellen DeGeneres', recent comments to The New York Times that she has seriously thought about quitting her show. 

“She’s the most popular person on television,” he said, before joking, “I’m second.”

"I want her to do what's best for her health, and to do what's best for that, because sometimes, man, you have to consider what's best for your health -- even I," he noted. "It's extreme. My doctors have told me, 'Hey, how long do you think you're gonna do this?'"

Still, Harvey insisted that his work as a daytime talk show host was not nearly as stressful as his past jobs.

"I worked at Ford Motor Company, man. I used to put eight spark plugs in 1,800 engines a day -- that's stressful. Telling jokes? That's pretty cool."

Clarkson filmed her pilot episode at NBC Universal Studios in Los Angeles last August. Last September, the singer talked to ET about her highly anticipated show and said her kids would most likely make an appearance. Clarkson is a mom to 4-year-old daughter River and 2-year-old son Remington, as well as a stepmom to husband Brandon Blackstock's two children from his previous marriage, Savannah and Seth.

"Oh probably, because we have four of them so I'm sure one will pop up every now and then," Clarkson said.
 
"I'm excited," she added about getting her own show. "It's fun. We have normal people, celebrities, music, a lot of heart. It was fun to shoot the pilot."

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