Craig Melvin had a few questions for Martha Stewart after unexpectedly finding himself in the middle of her Halloween costume drama.
“Why was I dragged into it?” Melvin, 47, asked Stewart, 85, when she appeared on the Friday, November 6, episode of the Today show to address the controversy.
Earlier this week, Stewart threw Melvin under the bus for getting chocolate on a sweater she wore during the Today show’s Halloween celebrations on October 30, which then forced her to change course.
“I was making a joke,” Stewart insisted on Friday, saying she didn’t “blame” Melvin at all. “I was giving a talk and I just made a joke that you had spilled chocolate on me, so I couldn’t wear that costume which I had planned to wear … and of course, they picked up on that.”
Melvin clarified there was “no connection” between that incident and the costume Stewart did end up wearing. The lifestyle guru raised eyebrows over Halloween weekend after sharing a photo of herself in tattered clothes and dirty makeup with a sign that read, “I AM HUNGRY. HELP ME.”
The photo was soon deleted, and Stewart issued a statement to Page Six on Sunday, November 1, saying she was “distressed” by the response. As the backlash continued, Stewart shared a second statement via social media and acknowledged that her initial message “didn’t go far enough.”
“It’s hard to admit when you’ve really screwed up. … I know many people are struggling economically,” she noted on Sunday. “Wearing a costume like I did was insensitive and not funny. I am very sorry. Martha.”
While speaking with Melvin on Friday, Stewart shed more light on how the costume came to be.
“Well, it was Saturday and it was Halloween and I was invited to a party. I was very busy all day, doing a lot of gardening, planting a lot of trees up at the farm. And I really hadn’t planned a Halloween costume this year,” she explained. “Usually I’m a very elaborate Halloween costumer. I’ve had the most beautiful costumes over the years.”
Stewart then noted her grandson told her the outfit was “tone deaf,” and Melvin pointed out he wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
“He saw the picture first, because I sent it to him,” Stewart continued. “I said, ‘What do you think?’ … It was just stupid. And I apologize, because I was not making fun of anybody or making light of the great problems that face our country.”
Stewart said she hopes there are “big steps” taken to ensure poorer citizens are “taken care of better” and noted the controversy taught her some important lessons.
“Pay closer attention to social issues,” she said as one example. “I’m aware of all those social issues, as you can imagine, and I care desperately about all the problems facing us.”
Stewart apologized again and emphasized her hopes to move on. “It was stupid, what else can I say?” she added. “I’m so sorry and I hope that my followers and my fans and the rest of America forgives me for doing something that was not meant in any way to be a bad thing.”
Melvin thanked Stewart for sitting down with him to clear the air before revealing she’ll be back on the Today show next week to share Thanksgiving tips.
