On his podcast this week, Barstool’s Kirk Minihane called out Howard Stern. Over the weekend, social media was abuzz over a segment of The View in which Howard Stern claimed that he had never used the n word on his show. Several people on Twitter pointed out that not only had Stern used the word, he had even performed in black face.
Minihane took it a step further. He played a clip from Stern’s terrestrial radio show in the 90s featuring the King of All Media poking fun at the E! network for bleeping the word from the television version of his show.
During the early days of his show’s national syndication, Stern would put on people and characters that said terrible things in order to goof on how dumb those people sounded according to Minihane. He noted that he wouldn’t do a segment like that now, but noted that “there was a time and place for satire.”
Minihane described himself as a Stern devotee in the 90s. He described Stern as the inspiration for him to broadcast the way he does.
“Literally a light went off in my head,” Minihane said of the first time he heard Stern. “Like I have never heard anything like this in my life.”
Howard Stern’s personality transformation is something Minihane takes personally. According to Minihane, every time Stern denies that he did the things that made him famous, it is a slap in the face to his long time fans.
“Stern is now so pathetic. When I get angry about Stern, keep in mind 19 or 20 year old Kirk was listening to Howard Stern 4 hours a day everyday, buying his books, talking to friends about him. To see what he’s become is depressing.”
That is why Minihane says he wants to highlight Stern’s hypocrisy. In the clip played on the Kirk Minihane Show, Stern uses the n word more than half a dozen times in a five minute span. He also uses racial epithets directed at Asians and Hispanics.
While it should be pointed out that Stern was reading a letter complaining that E! was okay with letting the epithets for Asians and Hispanics air, the network bleeped the n word when airing a bit that was clearly making fun of the Cincinnati Reds notoriously racist former owner Marge Schott.
“I didn’t use the n word. Let’s be very clear,” Stern said in an appearance on The View when one of the hosts mentioned hearing it frequently on his show when she was in college.
“It’s so abhorrently not true and such an easy thing to answer,” Minihane said wondering why Stern wouldn’t note that it was always used on the show to make fun of the person saying it and using it as an opportunity to say that it isn’t something he would do today.
“When I have listened to Howard Stern, in my life, I’m going to estimate he used the n word 5000 times,” Minihane said. “That’s a very soft estimate.”
Minihane said that he believes Howard Stern can deny things he has done that are on tape because he lives “in a bubble” and doesn’t have anyone to challenge him. Minihane also said that Stern has been so used to using his black news anchor and partner Robin Quivers as a “protective cone” for provocative, racially charged material.
