Howard Stern Says He Accepted Jerry Seinfeld’s Apology Over Podcast Comments: “I Don’t Care”

Howard Stern said this week he quickly accepted Jerry Seinfeld’s apology for saying Stern has been “outflanked” by other comedians.

“I read it, and I went to my wife, ‘Oh, that’s weird,’ because Jerry is a personal friend of ours,” Stern said on Monday’s The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM.

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Last week, Seinfeld made headlines for saying on the Fly on the Wall podcast that Stern, a self-proclaimed “king of all media,” had been “outflanked” by other comedy podcasts. He also said that hosts Dana Carvey and David Spade “are better than him now.” The Unfrosted director later apologized for the comments, saying “I feel really bad for what I said.”

On Monday, Stern said he first learned of the comments when he saw a headline that said Seinfeld alleged Stern was an interviewer, not a comedian.

“Long story short, I read it and I went, ‘Oh, shit.’ But I wasn’t gonna even — I didn’t even care, I was just kinda like, ‘Oh,'” he said.

He went on to explain that Stern’s wife, Beth Stern, texted Jessica Seinfeld, Jerry’s wife, and “Jerry called me immediately and was like, ‘Oh, fuck, I fucked up, and I want to apologize.’ He goes, ‘You know when you’re on the air, and shit just comes out wrong?'” Stern continued. “I said, ‘Jerry, you don’t even have to, please. This is embarrassing. I am the king of going on the air and having millions of regrets afterwards. Apology accepted. I don’t care.'”

Stern added that Seinfeld “apologized for a really long time, and he said it really came out wrong.” He also offered to apologize on Stern’s show, but Stern declined.

“I don’t wanna get into it, it’s awkward. It’s fine,” he said. “It wasn’t really that big of a deal.”

Stern also noted the debacle wasn’t that hurtful to begin with. “You know what, if I’m not a comedian, I’m an interviewer, I don’t know what I am. I always considered myself a bit of a comedian, but whatever it is, don’t worry about it.”

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