Steve Harvey defends his memo to staff: 'I just didn't want to be in this prison anymore'

— -- Steve Harvey is standing by a memo he sent to staffers at his daytime talk show, instructing them to stop "ambushing" him in the hallways.

In the memo, leaked on Robert Feder's media blog, Harvey told staffers that as they begin filming season 5 to remember to make an appointment with him if they'd like to talk.

"There will be no meetings in my dressing room. No stopping by or popping in. NO ONE," the memo read. "Do not come to my dressing room unless invited. Do not open my dressing room door. IF YOU OPEN MY DOOR, EXPECT TO BE REMOVED."

The memo continued that if there are people waiting by his dressing room door to talk, his "security team will stop everyone." It added, "I want all the ambushing to stop now. That includes TV staff. You must schedule an appointment."

Harvey, 60, stood by his memo in an interview with "Entertainment Tonight" although he admitted that perhaps he "should've handled it a little bit differently."

"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," he explained. "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."

Harvey continued, "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," Harvey said.

The talk show host concluded that he doesn't "apologize about the letter, but it's kind of crazy what people who took this thing and ran, man."