Howard Stern Slams Wendy Williams After She Says He's Lost His Edge: 'You'll Never Be Me'
Two media greats are going head-to-head.
On Wednesday, Howard Stern spent a chunk of his popular SiriusXM radio show criticizing Wendy Williams, after the former radio personality turned talk show host suggested Stern had lost his shock jock edge.
“Jealous bitch. … You are nobody to me,” Stern, 65, said, among other digs in his long, expletive-filled rant. “You’ll never be me, Wendy. You’ll never be me. You can pretend to be me, you can pretend to be like me, but you’re not. You don’t have my wit and you don’t have my talent. … You couldn’t have that career. You’re a fly.”
All began earlier on Williams’ syndicated talk show The Wendy Williams Show. While discussing Stern’s upcoming book — Howard Stern Comes Again, his first new title in over 20 years — Williams couldn’t help but shade him for what she implied was a toned-down attitude.
“Howard is so Hollywood right now. And Howard, I love you, but since you’ve gone Hollywood, everything you say is so predictable,” Williams, 54, said, explaining that Stern used to be one of her heroes. “Every story is going to be about, ‘Oh, I love this one, and then we went on their yacht.’ He’s a Hollywood insider, which sucks.”
“You started like me, being of the people. But at some point you sat behind the microphone for too long and now you are the people,” Williams added. “It hurts.”
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If Williams thought Stern was being predictable, then she surely must have seen his fury coming.
After hearing her comments, the radio veteran didn’t hold back on his own show — beginning by shooting down Williams’ claim that he had “gone Hollywood.”
“What evidence do you have that I’m Hollywood, honey?” he said. “I grew up a scumbag and I’m still treated like a scumbag. … What because I found success now I’m ‘Hollywood?’ What cause I know Jimmy Kimmel? Who am I hanging out with? She doesn’t know who I’m hanging out with. She doesn’t know what I do in this world. She doesn’t know who I’m f—ing with.”
“All she talks on that show is about Hollywood,” Stern alleged. “That’s as Hollywood as you get. If anyone in Hollywood called her to hang out, she’d [be there] in two seconds. All of that is a projection!”
Stern went on to reveal that he thought Williams’ comments didn’t take into account how hard he works. “Here’s my weekend: I go home, I write stuff for this show, I wrote stuff for my book, and then I stare at the wall waiting for the next show,” he said.
“I work my ass off on this show, day in and day out, to make sure that it’s good,” Stern continued. “Just shut up. Keep your opinion to yourself about me. I have struggled my entire life through thick and thin to actually get out there and do something that actually means something to people. That’s such an insult to me.”
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From there, Stern questioned what Williams’ impact in the industry has been.
“What has she said that’s controversial? When has she put herself on the line?” he asked. “What has she done actually? I don’t even know. You’re not the ‘Queen of All Media.’ You haven’t earned that title. You haven’t done anything.”
“You haven’t had the career I’ve had,” Stern said. “I had radio stations firing me, I had the government on my ass. I never backed down from a fight in my life. … Such an edgy broadcaster. When did you ever go to war with anyone? When did you fight with the FCC? When did you have the religious right coming up your ass and people throwing you off radio stations and not knowing if you can continue you career? Have you lived my life?”
“Broad doesn’t have an original thought in her goddamn head,” Stern also quipped, of Williams. “She’s busy being Howard Stern.”
Other things Stern said among his insults were personal jabs at Williams for her appearance, her health battles (including that headline-making fainting spell) and those reports about Williams’ husband’s infidelity (which she has denied).
“What have I done to this woman? Nothing. I’ve been gracious to her,” Stern said. “Worry about your husband, not me. … F— you and your dumb show and your mystery illness. She disappears for two months, nobody knows why, and now she’s questioning me? Thanks honey. …. I never fainted on my show either.”
“I’m not somebody you want to f— with, honey. I don’t want to hear your bulls—. And you’re not a nice person. Nobody likes you, that’s why you can’t go Hollywood,” he continued, claiming, “People do not like her. [The staff] was doing a dance over at The Wendy Williams Show when she was out. She’s a big pain in the ass. I hate to break the news to you, honey. Good thing you hurried back.”
Both Williams and Stern have had long careers in radio. Stern began his career in 1976, and Williams, in 1989. She moved over to television in 2008, leaving her syndicated radio show behind the following year.
