Courtesy The Loop 21

Last week, Steve Harvey set the internet ablaze when he called Tavis Smiley and Cornel West “Uncle Toms” saying they used their personal “beefs” to undermine the efforts of President Barack Obama. Smiley and West’s “Poverty Tour” has received a lot of attention since it first launched.

Yesterday, “Dem Poverty Boyz” responded to his remarks during an interview on the Michael Baisden show.

“When you are trying to talk about issues that affect the people, name calling gets in the way,” said West. “Name calling is nothing but another weapon of mass distraction. ”

Smiley added, “You don’t let haters get you down, you have to stay focused on the issue. That’s why you haven’t heard neither one of us respond to Steve Harvey, or Tom Joyner. We don’t call people names, we stay focused on the issues.”

After seeing how fast his comments spread, Harvey took to his radio show Tuesday morning to apologize for calling Smiley and West out of their names.

Read what he had to say at The Loop 21