Howard Stern has been doing heavy press rounds while promoting his tongue-in-cheek titled book of interviews, Howard Stern Comes Again, and in doing so, he’s been baring his soul in a way we’ve never seen before of the former “shock jock.” The Howard Stern of 2019 is kinder, gentler, and way more introspective than the guy who would once go out of his way to terrorize his guests — but that doesn’t mean that he’s not capable of the occasional regression.
Back in March while announcing news of his upcoming book, daytime talk show host Wendy Williams joked about Stern being “so Hollywood,” and unfortunately he caught wind of her remarks out of context while he was live on-air. And he did not take it well, launching into an approximately 30 minute rant calling her a “jealous bitch” and a “nobody” among others things.
Stern later apologized to Williams and has since removed the offending segment of audio from the rebroadcast. When asked about he incident in a new Rolling Stone profile, Stern elaborated on his reaction during the moment and after he had time to reflect on it:
I did. I really got caught up in the moment. I didn’t think it was my finest hour. Some of my fans might think so. But I was reacting to someone who was accusing me of … I don’t even know. I just didn’t like her fucking attitude. But afterward, it just left me with a queasy feeling. I got kind of caught up in commenting on it. At the end of the day, do I really give a shit that Wendy Williams was criticizing me? I kind of don’t. The idea of rebroadcasting it over and over again, it didn’t appeal to me.
When I do a radio show like this, I don’t really have a net. Most guys I envy, like Colbert or Fallon or Kimmel or Oprah, they do a show. They tape for an hour and a half, two hours, and they whittle it down for an hour show, maybe. They can actually spend five minutes reflecting. I’m live. Literally I’m a trapeze artist except I’m working without a net. I can fall. Sometimes I’ll listen to something: “OK, in the moment that was good. I don’t like it now.” I guess I’m completely naked in front of my audience. They know to tune into the show when I’m doing the actual broadcast because I might chop out 20 minutes. I might take out an hour of me ranting on Wendy Williams.
While Stern has certainly come a long way when it comes down to it he’s still only human like the rest of us and figuring this stuff out one day at a time. Good on him for owning up to a mistake.
(Via Rolling Stone)
