Howard Stern pretends to leave SiriusXM in elaborate prank: “That was all masterminded by me”
Following speculation regarding his future at SiriusXM, Howard Stern returned to the station on September 8th and used his first show back to prank his listeners.
The show unexpectedly began with Andy Cohen as host, telling listeners that Stern’s channel on Sirius XM had rebranded to Andy100. The Watch What Happens Live star told listeners: “I know you’re expecting a big announcement from Howard and this is not how things were meant to go.”
“This was supposed to be a cleaner hand off. I’m kind of winging it,” Cohen continued, before admitting it had been a “surreal morning”, which made many believe that he’d legitimately taken over from Stern on the station.
15 minutes later, Stern was back where he belonged in the saddle, thanking Cohen for doing his “little bit” in ensuring the prank was a success. “Lest anyone think that was real, that was all masterminded by me,” the broadcaster proudly told listeners.
Stern then addressed the speculation about his future with his current deal at SiriusXM, believed to expire at the end of 2025. He was initially set to address the reports last week, but this was pushed back until September 8th, which only heightened rumours that Stern’s time with SiriusXM was nearing its end.
During the broadcast, he told listeners, “Everything you’ve been reading in the paper about me or about Robin is completely false.”
Stern also explained why the announcement was postponed by a week, sharing, “Last week I was all set to come on and I made the mistake of going the last week of my vacation and actually interacting with people and I got so sick. I thought I had Covid.”
He then hit back at the reports of him being fired, which he says have “zero truth” to them, stating, “The story then became ‘Howard Stern is fired because he’s too woke.” Stern added, “If I’m woke, okay who gives a fuck?… Sirius employs a lot of woke people and a lot of right-wingers too.”
Stern, who has often publicly considered retirement, then claimed that’s no longer an option due to the reports, saying, “What pisses me off is now I can’t leave.” The radio icon added, “Now I can’t because then they’ll say I got pushed out, so I’ll be back. Fuck you.”
While he didn’t confirm whether he’s signed an extension to his deal, Stern said SiriusXM have “approached me, they’ve sat down with me like they normally do and they’re fantastic.”
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