Howard Stern Hates Trump Voters and Says ‘They’re Stupid’; Trump Fires Back by Claiming Stern ‘Went Woke’ and His ‘Ratings Have Gone Down the Tubes’
Howard Stern and Donald Trump were locked in a war of words this week after the SiriusXM radio host shared some blunt opinions about Trump supporters. Stern said that he has no respect for Americans who vote for Trump for president, which prompted Trump to claim Stern “went woke” and lost radio listeners as a result.
“This whole idea of you like me, you are good, and if you don’t, you are bad… I’ve been the victim of this,” Stern said during a recent episode of “The Howard Stern Show” (via The Daily Beast). “I don’t agree with Trump politically, I don’t think he should be anywhere near the White House. I don’t hate the guy. I hate the people who vote for him. I think they’re stupid. I do. I’ll be honest with you, I have no respect for you.”
More from Variety
Stern added that he doesn’t mind losing “half my listeners” who disagree with his politics. He also said he fully expects “hate mail” from Trump supports after what he just said.
Trump himself appeared on the Fox News show “Gutfeld!” a few days later, where the clip of Stern saying he hates Trump voters played during the interview.
“I was on Howard Stern’s show as much as anybody,” Trump told host Greg Gutfeld in response to the clip. “He was great at that time, and then he went woke. And since he’s gone woke his ratings have gone down the tubes. And he sort of went anti-Trump for a couple of reasons.”
Stern embraced accusations that he’s “woke” a year ago when he told his listeners that he takes such criticism as a compliment.
“I’ll tell you how I feel about it. To me the opposite of woke, is being asleep,” Stern said at the time. “And if woke means I can’t get behind Trump, which is what I think it means, or that I support people who want to be transgender or I’m for the vaccine, dude call me woke as you fucking want.”
“I’m not for stupidity, you know,” he continued. “I ran out Friday morning. I was over at CVS. Thank you, CVS. I went over there 9 a.m. and got myself that new vaccine for COVID. Fucking science. This fucking country is so great… I am woke, motherfucker, and I love it. I want to be awake. I want to read legitimate news sources. Here’s how woke I am. I believe the election was not rigged. I am woke. I think that’s a compliment.”
Stern noted that “guys on the internet” who claim they are not woke “seem to be really angry, super against gay people — especially transgender.”
“Am I for kids being able to read about anything in school? Yeah, I am. I don’t give a shit what kids read,” he added. “Give me vaccines, man. I’m all for it… I like being woke, if that’s what woke means.”
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.