Shock jock radio host Howard Stern balked Thursday at the claims that he has gone “woke” amid rumors of his retirement, arguing both are untrue.
Stern was once on the cutting-edge of shock-jock radio, famously sparring with the FCC for decades to defend his raunchy and politically-incorrect show. In later years, Stern was accused of losing the very devil-may-care approach to humor that led to his rise in the first place. This has been a repeated claim over the years, as has been rumor of his retirement.
“I was on vacation and the next thing I know, I was in ‘Stephen Colbert-land’ where I was being thrown off by the FCC somehow, I don’t know what, whatever it was or because I’m too woke… Too woke? I don’t even know what a ‘woke’ is. What is woke?” Stern asked.
“If I’m too woke, the world has turned upside down,” Stern claimed. “I mean, the stuff I do and talk about, I don’t even know what that means. But you know what? If it means I’m awakened, God bless.”
Fellow radio host Andy Cohen suggested this accusation, “might mean that you care about other people.”
“Yeah,” Stern agreed. “Suddenly, it’s not macho to give a f— about anybody, but I’m not being fired, I’m talking to Sirius right now about extending in some way, and if that works out, great.”
However, Howard has actually embraced being called “woke” in the past amid accusations of going soft in his comedy, offering his take on its definition.
“I hear that a lot — that I’m not good anymore because I’m woke,” Stern said in September 2023. “By the way, I take that as a compliment. To me, the opposite of woke is asleep. And if woke means I can’t get behind Trump … or that I support people who want to be transgender … or I’m for the vaccine — dude, call me as woke as you f—ing want.”
He added further, “I am woke, motherf—er, and I love it. I want to be awake. I want to read legitimate news sources. Here’s how woke I am: I believe the election was not rigged,” Stern said of the 2020 presidential election. “I am woke. I think that’s a compliment.”
In 2022, he was accused of contradicting his past defense of free speech by appearing to sympathize with efforts against podcaster Joe Rogan, the very podcaster who many say replaced Stern’s niche with American men.
Neil Young had recently demanded that Spotify remove his tracks from its service in January 2022, declaring the company “can have Rogan or Young. Not Both.” Young had previously called on Spotify to censor Rogan for what he claimed was false or misleading information about the pandemic.
“I don’t think Neil Young is for censorship,” Stern argued at the time. “I just think he’s saying, ‘Look, I don’t want to be part of this organization, because if my music is helping people bring people to the table, and then they’re spreading something as lethal as don’t take the vaccine, do this.’”
Stern later added, “I’m against any kind of censorship, really, you know, I really am. I don’t like censorship, but when you’re talking about life and death.”
The radio host alienated some fans numerous times over the COVID-19 pandemic years, such as arguing those who refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine should be denied medical treatment.
“If you don’t get it, in my America, all hospitals would be closed to you. You’re going to go home and die. That is what you should get,” he said.
Stern also reportedly spent years holed up in his house, refusing to go back to his studio over concerns he might catch the virus.
“I’m going crazy with this. My wife yelled at me last night. We got into a fight. You know how paranoid I am about getting COVID. I haven’t gotten it, and I’m pretty safe, and I really don’t want to get it,” Stern said in September 2023. After noting he had somewhat emerged for certain events, news of a new strain of the virus made him consider going back into lockdown.
More recently, shortly after the second attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, Stern said he “couldn’t agree with you more,” after a caller compared Trump to Adolf Hitler in September 2024. “It is the same playbook. We have seen it before in history.”
“Hitler was perceived as a clown in Germany… He was one of these buffoonish characters. Somehow he won an election. And that was the end of Germany. He dragged them through hell and back,” Stern continued. “This does feel like a replay of pre-World War II. I am one of those people who believe that if the election goes the wrong way, it’s the end of the United States.”