UPDATED: Donald Trump took some credit for another media figure’s departure from the airwaves — even though, in the case of Howard Stern, neither he nor SiriusXM has confirmed that he’s about to exit.
In fact, Stern hosted his show on Wednesday, taking a break from his vacation and promising that he would return on Sept. 2.
“We’ll be back on the air live. I’ve been refueling, so to speak,” Stern said.
But reports that he’s departing have swirled around right-wing media outlets.
Trump was asked by a reporter, Brian Glenn of Real America’s Voice, about the report as if it had been confirmed. “Howard Stern announced that he and SiriusXM Radio are parting ways. Do you think that the hate Trump business model that has been in the business is going out of business because it’s not popular with the American people?” But Stern has not announced his departure.
Trump responded, “Well, it hasn’t worked, and it hasn’t worked for a long time. 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 got higher ratings than he did. He’s got no talent. Fallon has no talent. 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.”
Then he added, “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?”
Glenn then claimed that Stern and SiriusXM were parting ways over salary.
“You know when he went down? When he endorsed Hillary Clinton, he lost his audience. People said, ‘Give me a break.’ He went down when he endorsed Hillary Clinton.”
SiriusXM has not commented on the reports.
Stern has been critical of Trump, but he’s still be a lucrative enough draw for SiriusXM to re-sign a lucrative new contract since the 2016 election. In 2020, Stern and the satellite broadcaster announced a new five-year agreement.
Last year, SiriusXM’s Scott Greenstein said on an earnings call, “As for Howard, he’s a singular talent. No one pretended when Johnny Carson or others retired that the new group would replace them. They were just simply filling in on those slots. So Howard, we hope he continues forever.”
