Cover image via Reuters/Steve Marcus
By now you know that Steve Harvey screwed up the 2015 Miss Universe pageant. It had all the ingredients of an epic viral moment:
A beauty pageant. An embarrassing gaffe. The agonising scene when Harvey admitted he made a mistake. The look on Miss Colombia's face when her crown was taken off and given to the real winner, Miss Philippines.
It was perfect. Maybe…a little too perfect? Watch:
Could Harvey's monumental Miss Universe error have been staged?
**According to [Adweek's David Griner](http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/was-steve-harveys-miss-universe-flub-staged-if-not-it-should-have-been-168706), if not, it should have been.** David writes:
*"Harvey spectacularly botched the announcement of the winner, accidentally giving Miss Colombia the crown. Then, at the most awkward moment possible (the new Miss Universe's celebratory wave to the crowd), he whipped the audience into a hooting frenzy with the words "I have to apologize," noting that the real winner was Miss Philippines. The whole scenario, frankly, felt like a twist from WWE's WrestleMania rather than from a hyperproduced global pageant."*
Questioning if it was a scripted moment of controversy to push Miss Universe to the top of social trending topic lists, David asks, **"If so, who would have been in on it?"**
There are several reasons why the error might not have been staged, the most prominent being the enduring smear it has likely placed on both the pageant and Harvey's hosting abilities.
But here's something interesting that does point towards why the monumental Miss Universe gaffe could very well have been staged: More people tweeted about the gaffe than those who actually watched it.
Image via Adweek
Or was it all in the card's "bad design"?
According to [Tech Insider's Chris Weller](http://www.techinsider.io/design-experts-on-steve-harveys-miss-universe-flub-2015-12), who consulted design experts to determine whether the layout of Harvey's card could have tripped him up, they did suggest that the fact that the Miss Universe winner was printed on the right side of the card, while the runners-up appeared on the left, could have created some minor confusion for Harvey. However, one of them suggested that the card's design shouldn't be blamed here.
"In any case, it's not so much the design, which is straightforward enough. You cannot blame the card he was reading."
On the other hand, following his blunder, Harvey emphatically stated that the correct Miss Universe winner and first runner-up were listed on the card he was holding. In the Snapchat session for the event, Harvey appeared to claim that the Teleprompter was the culprit.
But there's yet another wrinkle in this theory: A veteran stage manager told [TheWrap](http://www.thewrap.com/miss-universe-disaster-4-theories-on-why-steve-harvey-screwed-up/) that when a host is reading from cards, there won't be anything on the teleprompter, and thus no misinformation for Harvey to parrot.
Image via Twitter
