American radio and television personality Howard Stern is facing public scrutiny and being asked to apologize after a 1993 segment starring Stern featuring the use of blackface and the n-word resurfaced on social media.
The video in question features clips of the 1993 skit showing Stern in minstrel-style makeup, using the n-word repeatedly, cut together with clips of Stern’s recent appearance on The View where he declared he had never used the word before. In the skit, Stern parodies Ted Danson’s infamous 1993 blackface performance with then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg. In the skit Stern plays Danson, and makes a series of corny and racially insensitive jokes to his friend Robin Quivers, such as “What do you call a black rocket scientist?” with the punchline being the n-word. Stern’s Danson character then excuses himself for using the word, saying “Whoopi wrote that.”
https://twitter.com/_/status/1271695352685617152
While the point of the skit seemed to highlight and mock Danson’s use of Goldberg as a blessing to be freely racist, the skit was made in poor taste.
The clip was retweeted by Donald Trump Jr., likely in the defense of his father, along with the caption “Yikes! NSFW: Howard Stern says N-word too many times during awful blackface impression that should have Libs yelling ‘CANCEL!’”
The Howard Stern Show host addressed all the controversy Monday morning on the radio show, owning up to his past actions and acknowledging his growth, saying, “The sh*t I did was f*cking crazy. 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,” he continued, “I evolved and changed . . . 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.”
He also had some choice words for the Trump family, whom he criticized for attacking him right now instead of worrying about things like the coronavirus and systemic racism. “At the same point, I will say, it f*cking distresses me that Donald Trump Jr. and Donald themselves won’t go into psychotherapy and change,” he added, “Attacking me during the coronavirus and Black Lives Matter is absolutely f*cking crazy, concentrating on me.”
