Donald Trump mocks Howard Stern as rumours of cancellation swirl

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As news continued to mount that Howard Stern’s eponymous radio show is on the verge of cancellation, U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in on the rumoured demise of his onetime pal.

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The U.S. Sun reported this week that Sirius XM, which broadcasts the Howard Stern Show, may not renew Stern’s contract when his current deal expires at the end of the year.

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Stern, 71, has mulled retirement over the last year, but according to the outlet, “there’s no way (Sirius) can keep paying his salary” amidst declining listenership.

“Stern’s contract is up in the fall and while Sirius is planning to make him an offer, they don’t intend for him to take it,” one insider told the outlet. “Sirius and Stern are never going to meet on the money he is going to want. It’s no longer worth the investment.”

Another source said that Stern’s criticism of Trump and Americans who refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine were also likely playing a role in the company’s decision.

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“If Sirius isn’t going to give Stern a good offer, I don’t think it would have anything to do with his ratings,” the source claimed. “It’s more likely everything to do with the political climate.”

Trump was asked by a reporter, Brian Glenn of Real America’s Voice, about the goss and whether “the hate Trump business model is going out of business because it’s not popular with the American people.”

“Well, it hasn’t worked, and it hasn’t worked for a long time,” Trump replied.

The president then sounded off on some of his other talk-show enemies, including Stephen Colbert, whose late-night show was axed by CBS last month.

“Colbert has no talent. I mean, I could take anybody here, I could go outside on the beautiful streets and pick a couple of people that would do just as well or better. They’d get higher ratings than he did. He’s got no talent. (Jimmy) Fallon has no talent. (Jimmy) Kimmel has no talent. They’re next. They’re going to be going. I hear they are going to be going. I don’t know, but I would imagine, because Colbert has better ratings than Kimmel or Fallon.”

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Trump then linked Stern to the other three. “Howard Stern is a name I haven’t heard. I used to do his show. We used to have fun, but I haven’t heard that name in a long time. What happened? He got terminated?” the 79-year-old commander-in-chief asked.

Glenn said that Stern’s show is in jeopardy of ending because of a salary dispute.

Trump mused that Stern “went down” because he endorsed Hillary Clinton in the leadup to the 2016 presidential election.

“You know when he went down? When he endorsed Hillary Clinton, he lost his audience. People said, ‘Give me a break,’” Trump said.

Stern returned to the airwaves briefly this week to tell his listeners he is “refueling” for his return next month, but made no mention of the chatter that his show might be ending.

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Stern and Trump were once friends, but the pair fell out after the legendary radio host backed Clinton in 2016.

In the run-up to the 2024 election, Stern, who is on vacation for the summer, promoted interviews with then-U.S. President Joe Biden and the eventual Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

After being known as the “bad boy” of radio in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, Stern had softened his image in recent years and said he was happy to be known as “woke,” calling it a “compliment.”

“If woke means I can’t get behind Trump, which is what I think it means, or that I support people who want to be transgender or I’m for the vaccine, dude call me woke as you f***ing want,” he said in 2023.

Last year, as he plugged campaigns being run by Biden and Harris, Stern alienated some of his listeners when he blasted Americans who cast their vote for Trump.

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“I don’t agree with Trump politically, I don’t think he should be anywhere near the White House. I don’t hate the guy. I hate the people who vote for him. I think they’re stupid. I do. I’ll be honest with you, I have no respect for you,” Stern said.

During his interview with Harris last fall, Stern said that he couldn’t “understand how this election is close.”

“I’m voting for you, but I would also vote for that wall over there, rather than a guy who says he doesn’t support Ukraine … why do my fellow Americans want this kind of chaos overseas?” Stern asked.

Trump seethed after the interview aired and accused Stern of conducting a fluffy interview with the Democratic presidential nominee.

“BETA MALE Howard Stern made a fool of himself on his low rated radio show when he ‘interviewed’ Lyin’ Kamala Harris, and hit her with so many SOFTBALL questions that even she was embarrassed,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.  “He looked like a real fool, working so hard to make a totally incompetent and ill-equipped person look as good as possible, which wasn’t very good.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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