Stars Who Can't Stand Howard Stern

It's a testament to the savvy and business instincts of Howard Stern that, even for those who have never listened to a single minute of talk radio, he hardly needs an introduction. Stern began his career as a radio personality in the late '70s, but it wasn't until the mid-'80s that he, along with his faithful sidekick Robin Quivers, perfected the format for which the term "shock jock" was coined. For Stern and Quivers, virtually nothing was off limits — and often, all of the vulgar humor, in-studio nudity, and Federal Communications Commission fines tended to obscure the fact that Stern happened to be a very good interviewer.

In 2006, Stern took his act to Sirius XM radio, mostly outside the purview of that pesky FCC, where he remains to this day. Even though he is now in his 70s, his schtick remains largely undiluted, and it's as popular as ever — but thanks to his decades-long habit of saying whatever he pleases to a nationwide audience while pushing as many buttons as he possibly can, he has ruffled more than a few celebrity feathers. Here are some of the stars who simply can't stand Howard Stern.

For over a decade, comedian and actor Jamie Foxx resided a few stations over from Howard Stern on Sirius XM; his station "The Foxxhole" offered up comedy and music, and of course a show dedicated to the musings of Foxx himself. In 2010, during an episode of his eponymous series, Foxx took aim at Stern, who had recently made characteristically obnoxious remarks about the weight of actress Gabourey Sidibe, opining that her size would prevent her from ever winning an Oscar. Foxx took the odd step of formally declaring a feud, saying that he hoped it would get some attention, for Stern's sake — because "Howard hasn't really made a big splash in a long time" (via The Australian).

Thus began a back-and-forth between two Sirius XM hosts that saw Stern ridiculing Foxx and implying that the actor must be gay, Foxx renaming Stern "Coward" and flatly stating that he has "chronic gonorrhea," and listeners of both stations presumably making dashes to the grocery store for more popcorn. The tiff eventually blew over, and in 2017, Foxx (whose station was taken over by frequent guest Kevin Hart in 2018) even went so far as to appear on Stern's show — an appearance that was quite cordial and professional, and during which the blow-up between the two was never even so much as addressed.

For decades going all the way back to the '50s, Pat Cooper held down the New York comedy scene with an acerbic persona that was ahead of its time in many respects. Unafraid to bluntly call out the hypocrisies and injustices of the entertainment industry at large — and just as apt to shine his scathing comedic spotlight on himself and his own family as anyone else — Cooper's style made him a perfect fit for Howard Stern's show when the shock jock was making a splash in the '80s. Of course, Cooper didn't hold back from taking shots at Stern, as well — and perhaps this is why Stern, in his 1993 memoir "Private Parts," rather pointedly left Cooper off his list of favorite comics.

This was a bridge too far for Cooper, and the relationship between the two quickly frayed. In 2001, a New York Magazine gossip columnist overheard Cooper brutally trashing Stern at a Friar's Club luncheon, and after another rather prickly appearance on Stern's show, Cooper resurfaced in 2014 on the Opie and Anthony Sirius XM show dropping nukes on his former friend. "I'm telling you he's full of s***," Cooper said. "He's a f****** baby. I'll go after him 24/7. ... I was his best f****** guest, the only one that did take his s*** ... [if you] like him, that's your privilege. ... But I learned a lesson. I quit, and ... it's over."

Jay Leno's trouble with Howard Stern can be traced back to one night: November 30, 1995, and Stern's appearance on "The Tonight Show." As Stern was at the peak of his zany, vulgar, every-button-pushing powers, it's unclear what Leno and NBC expected of this appearance — but what they got was Maximum Stern. The radio host sauntered onto the stage with two bikini-clad women, and made them make out with each other and receive spankings from him while a visibly uncomfortable Leno kept piping up about how the network was going to edit out all of this; he dumped all over celebrities whose memoirs were competing for sales with his own, many of whom were frequent guests of Leno's; and he continued groping his female companions as Leno attempted to have a conversation with his next guests, legendary film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.

NBC denounced Stern's behavior in a subsequent statement, and Siskel and Stern both publicly remarked afterwards about how Leno was quite unhappy with the entire situation during the taping. During a 2019 conversation with talk show host Andy Cohen, Leno was asked about Stern, who, as Cohen pointed out, has called Leno "every name in the book." Leno's response was characteristically diplomatic. "I didn't get into the feud, because you're not going to win a feud with Howard," he said. "If you start that feud, boom, you're down ... if you just let it roll, it's fine."

One tragic detail about Tom Hanks is that his son, actor and "rapper" Chet Hanks, is an apple that fell pretty far from the genial, easygoing tree. The famously outspoken younger Hanks took issue with remarks that Howard Stern made in 2015 during an appearance on Rude Jude's Shade 45 Sirius XM show; taking aim at Hanks, Stern had said, "It irritates the s*** out of me to see someone take [hip-hop] culture and appropriate it. It's like, come on, bro, you're not from that. You learned how to talk from a video."

Perhaps describing Hanks as having "taken issue" is a bit mild. In a series of profane posts on Instagram and Twitter, he intimated that he would not shy away from conflict with Stern, calling himself "a walking PR disaster" who doesn't "give a single f***" and pointing out that if his own parents can't make him shut up, there would not be much Stern could do in that respect. He had previously called Stern old and out of touch, saying, "Only old people listen to you ... The young generation doesn't know you." Finally, in a since deleted tweet, Hanks lashed out with, "I am going to see you in person, and I am going to hurt you ... Do you have any idea how badly I am going to assault you when I see you?" (via People).

John DeBella is a Philadelphia radio legend; his career on the Philly airwaves spanned five decades, and he finally took his well-deserved retirement in 2023. His no-nonsense interviewing style resonated with listeners, and in the '80s, his main rival was fellow no-nonsense interviewer Howard Stern, whose New York-based show was syndicated in the area. DeBella's "Morning Zoo" show was the most popular in town, and this apparently did not sit well with Stern — who regularly trash-talked his rival and engaged in such shenanigans as inviting DeBella's ex-wife on his show to pile on, and holding a mock funeral for DeBella when Stern's show finally eclipsed "Morning Zoo" in the ratings in 1990.

DeBella spoke about the rivalry with the Philadelphia Inquirer upon the occasion of his retirement, explaining, "In [Stern's] mind, I was holding him back from expanding his show, so that made it nastier and nastier." At least, it did so far as Stern was concerned; DeBella generally was disinclined to return fire, which he believed made Stern even angrier. (He did note that it wasn't always easy keeping his mouth shut "when there's 3,000 people outside your studio window celebrating your funeral.") The shock jock did eventually get in touch with DeBella years after the rivalry had died down to apologize, which DeBella accepted.

Another shock jock with a sizable bone to pick with Howard Stern, Matthew "Mancow" Muller rose to fame in the '90s, quickly becoming that decade's main competition for the ears of listeners in the market for extreme edginess. Muller's syndicated "Mancow's Morning Madhouse" show, which originated at rock station WRCX in Chicago, was not without its share of indecency complaints and controversies over its many years on the air — but if Stern and Muller were kindred spirits, it did not exactly show in the way they regularly name-called and trash-talked each other on their respective shows.

Stern may have taken the rivalry a touch too far when he brought Muller's father, who happened to be dying of cancer, into the feud in 1995. In the Vice TV documentary series "Dark Side of the 2000's," Muller recalled, "My father was a $30,000-a-year cabinet maker, and he became the number one topic on Stern's show for a year ... The countdown to his death, how [Stern] was going to have sex with my mother." (These are, unbelievably, some of the more tame jabs that Muller remembered.) Even Stern's own team, including head writer Jackie Martling, admitted to Vice that they felt Stern had crossed a line with his remarks, and Muller made it quite clear that he will neither forgive nor forget. "You think this is some entertainer? 'Oh, he's made amends, he's a nice guy now,'" he said mockingly. "He can burn in hell."

Sam Smith burst onto the pop music scene in 2014 and pretty much took over, but apparently, it took awhile for their signature tune — "Stay With Me," which peaked at No. 2 in August of that year — to reach the ears of Howard Stern. When it finally did in January 2015, Stern had a mouthful to say about the song, which he liked, and Smith himself, to whom he offered the most backhanded praise imaginable. "You know what I like about the guy? He's an ugly motherf*****. He's fat ... He looks gay to me." Stern continued to pile on, saying, "I feel like ['Stay With Me'] will be his only hit song," before closing by calling Smith the "male Adele."

For the record, Stern was not just wrong, but grossly misinformed; Smith had scored two more Top 10 hits in 2014 alone, and would go on to notch four more (including 2022's No. 1 smash "Unholy," for which Smith was hilariously accused of devil worship). Oh, and just days after Stern made his remarks, Smith picked up four Grammys — for Best Pop Vocal Album, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist — at the 57th Grammy Awards. Smith's reaction to Stern's ridiculousness was succinct; taking to X, then known as Twitter, they wrote, "Can't believe what I've just read." A few minutes later, they posted simply, "Ignore" — and then proceeded to do just that.

Actress and activist Rose McGowan's beef with Howard Stern began when she visited his show in November 2001, a conversation that eventually turned to McGowan's ex-fiancé Brian "Marilyn Manson" Warner. While McGowan was visibly uncomfortable during most of the proceedings, she became even more so when visiting this topic, reluctantly offering up vague information when asked why the pair had broken up (and suggesting that Stern read Warner's 1999 autobiography if he wanted more details). While she lightly implied that Warner's drug use may have been a factor, she never said so explicitly — which made Stern's line of questioning when he got Warner on his show in 2002 absolutely appalling.

Stern told Warner point blank that McGowan had eagerly discussed his drug use and called him "an addict" (she said no such thing) before asking him, "If in fact you guys were in love ... why would she come on a radio show and talk about something very private, your drug addiction?" Warner, who has a serious shady side, played along, opining that McGowan must have been using him as fodder to promote her TV show. In a 2016 op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter, McGowan briefly referred to her appearance on Stern's show, confirming just how uncomfortable it had been. "[I] was forced by a studio to go on 'Howard Stern,'" she wrote, "where he asked me to show him my [privates] while my ... publicists stood to the side and did nothing to protect me."

Carnie Wilson has a lot of hyphens in her job title; aside from being an actress, talk show host, and reality TV personality, she's notched no fewer than three No. 1 pop hits as a member of Wilson Phillips, which may have the most impressive musical pedigree of any pop group. You see, the untold truth of Beach Boys genius Brian Wilson is that he is the father of two members of Wilson Phillips — Carnie and her sister Wendy — and the third member of the trio, Chynna Phillips, is the daughter of Mamas and the Papas singers John and Michelle Phillips. Carnie is a pop culture icon and a four-time Grammy nominee — but when she visited Howard Stern's E! network television show, she was treated more like a slab of meat.

Speaking with People, Wilson remembered that as soon as she walked in, she was told to stand in a certain spot — where there just happened to be a scale. Stern then proceeded to spend the majority of their sit-down harping on Wilson's weight, even wondering aloud why her then-fiancé (now husband) Rob Bonfiglio would want her. "I mean, he went nuts, just because he loves to fat-shame," Wilson said. "It's like a joke to him, but it wasn't to me. It was one of the worst experiences I ever had." Stern went so far as to prognosticate that the marriage wouldn't last — but this was in 1999, and the pair are still together, so the joke's on him.

Just before his death in 2000, legendary comedian Steve Allen — who was also the star of stage and screen, songwriter, author, and creator of the freaking "Tonight Show" — sat for an interview with NPR in which he discussed a number of life's great mysteries, like the veracity of religion and what he thought happens after death. Among the mysteries Allen was pondering that day: How anybody could find Howard Stern to be funny. Allen was of the opinion that vulgar, shocking comedy was simply lazy, and he singled out Stern as the most egregious example of this, saying that the shock jock "never in his whole life said anything the least bit witty or philosophically insightful."

Allen didn't stop there, or even pause. "All he does," Allen said, "is talk dirty, like some emotionally disturbed 14-year-old." He went on to contrast Stern with the likes of Lenny Bruce, whom he said "was always making a philosophical point," and to opine that even Stern's audience knew deep down that he was right. "When the audience is shocked, it is very easy to make them laugh, even if they later go home and say, 'I was never so disgusted in my life,'" he said (via New York Daily News).

Dolly Parton is a three-time Guinness World Record holder due to her longevity in the music industry, one of the most prolific songwriters of all time, and simply one of the most beloved celebrities there has ever been. The legendarily sweet-natured icon seemingly never has a bad word to say about anyone — which made it particularly shocking when, in 2008, Howard Stern mounted a "gag" which involved editing parts of Parton's audiobook to make it sound like she was spewing the kind of awful, vulgar, racist things that she would never actually say, and which cannot be reprinted here. 

Parton was, of course, appalled, saying in a statement, "I cannot believe what Howard Stern has done to me ... In a blue million years, I would never have such vulgar things come out of my mouth." She added that she was "completely devastated" and that "if there was ever going to be a lawsuit, it's going to be over this." Stern responded... well, pretty much exactly as one would expect him to. "It's an absurd bit. It's obviously parody, and funny as hell," he said. "I can't even imagine someone thinking they have an actionable case, but bring it on" (via The Boot). 

In 2006, Howard Stern had the opportunity for a dream interview: with Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, the lead singer and lead guitarist of legendary outfit The Who. Unfortunately, one of those parties ducked out before the interview began — Townshend, who just a few years earlier had been charged with downloading sexually explicit material involving minors (and ultimately cleared of those charges). Townshend's tragic childhood had fueled his investigation into this subject, and he had requested that it be left out of the would-be interview; Stern made it clear beforehand that no subject was to be off-limits.

In a statement on his website (via Brave Words), Townshend recalled overhearing Stern state his intentions to broach the forbidden topics (which also included Townshend's alleged bisexual dalliances) with Townshend. "I would not say that I 'stormed out' of an interview with Howard Stern, I would say that I walked away," he wrote. He claimed that was not angry, pointing out that as a "public person," he accepts that Stern or anyone else can talk about any aspect of his public life whenever they want. Townshend said, though, that he would not be a party to a "lighthearted inquisition" on a subject that can "cause widely felt discomfort when not seriously addressed." Daltrey went ahead with the interview, and when it became clear that Townshend was not taking part, Stern jokingly asked if there was anyone in the studio who could do a good enough British accent to imitate him.