Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for SiriusXM(LOS ANGELES) — Howard Stern is taking accountability for his prior use of blackface and the N-word during a 1993 New Year’s Eve special.
On his SiriusXM show on Monday, the 66-year-old eccentric radio host addressed the video, which resurfaced after it was posted by filmmaker Tariq Nasheed and retweeted by Donald Trump Jr. He chalked the video up to him being crazy but added that he has since grown.
“The s**t I did was f*****g crazy,” Stern said, according to Variety. “I’ll be the first to admit. I won’t go back and watch those old shows; it’s like, ‘Who is that guy?’ But that was my shtick, that’s what I did and I own it. I don’t think I got embraced by Nazi groups and hate groups. They seem to think I was against them, too. Everybody had a bone to pick with me.”
The performance in question was a parody that Stern participated in which saw him using the N-word liberally as he portrayed the role of Ted Danson in blackface during the roast of his then girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg, portrayed by Sherman Hemsley.
“I was able to change my approach, able to change my life and change how I communicated,” the shock jock added. “If I had to do it all over again, would I lampoon Ted Danson, a white guy in blackface? Yeah, I was lampooning him and saying, ‘I’m going to shine a light on this.’ But would I go about it the same way now? Probably not. Not probably, I wouldn’t.”
Stern also thought it was ridiculous that he was on Trump Jr.’s radar during such a tumultuous time in the country, adding, “…Attacking me during the coronavirus and Black Lives Matter is absolutely f*****g crazy.”
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