The controversial radio host has come under fire as a video of him in blackface and using the N-word has resurfaced.
What We Know:
- A 1993 sketch on the pay-per-view show New Year’s Rotten Eve Pageant featured Howard Stern parodying Ted Danson’s blackface performance he did alongside Whoopi Goldberg that year. Stern’s longtime show partner Robin Quivers asked him questions in which the answers were punchlines using the N-word.
- Stern denied ever using the word in an interview on The View but filmmaker Tariq Nasheed posted the video of him using the racial slur.
- “I’ll be the first to admit. I won’t go back and watch those old shows; it’s like, who is that guy. But that was my shtick, that’s what I did and I own it,” said Stern as he explained the absurdity of his shows at the time.
- He did reflect on his past mistakes, but says he doesn’t regret exposing Danson. “If I had to do it all over again, would I lampoon Ted Danson, a white guy in blackface? Yeah” Stern said. “I was lampooning him and saying, I’m going to shine a light on this. But would I go about it the same way now? Probably not. Not probably, I wouldn’t.”
- Robin Quivers, Stern’s sidekick who is also black, stated, “I have long been a proponent of free speech and a long time ago I made a vow to myself that one word was never going to keep me out of a room. I don’t care about that word, don’t care about being called an Uncle Tom, because I know who I am and what I stand for.”
- The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., commented on the sketch in what he referred to as “liberal privilege,” specifically pointing out that Stern is a supporter of former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
In 2020, you get fired for saying the police are good, you get cancelled for saying you oppose disrespecting the American flag, but bc #HollywoodHoward is an outspoken Dem & @JoeBiden supporter, this is ok?
I abhor cancel culture, but this is what #LiberalPrivilege looks like! https://t.co/j0ZJxCckPU
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 12, 2020
- Stern responded by stating, “Dude, if you’re the president of the United States and you want to worry about me, go ahead,” Deadline reports. “I don’t think I have much influence honestly. And breaking news: Howard Stern was absolutely insane and out of his mind. I would take on anything and say anything and do anything.”
The video comes at a time when race relations and inequality in the U.S. are under the microscope.
