Posted in: ABC, HBO, Max, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: Bill Maher, donald trump, howard stern, opinion

Howard Stern Proudly "Woke"; Bill Maher, Donald Trump No Longer BFFs

Howard Stern explained why he and Bill Maher are no longer friends, while Donald Trump took shots at the now proudly-"woke" SiriusXM host.

You know that old saying about how you're judged by the company you keep? Well, folks might start judging SiriusXM radio show Howard Stern by the company he no longer keeps. This week saw Stern revealing that he's "no longer friends" with HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher host Bill Maher over some personal shots he took in a recent podcast – and Maher reportedly not responding to Stern's request for an explanation. And then – earlier today – ex-reality show host & multi-impeached ex-POTUS Donald Trump went online to take some shots at Stern for proudly declaring that he's "woke" – even if that means Trump & his campaign have issues with that.

Howard Stern & Bill Maher Are No Longer BFFs: Earlier this week, Stern addressed being on the outs with Maher and that it stemmed from comments Maher made about Stern during an episode of Maher's podcast, Club Random. "The guys played me a clip from Bill Maher's new podcast, and he was actually dumping on me," Stern shared. The long-running radio host was surprised by Maher's attack, assuming the two were on good terms after Stern appeared on Maher's HBO series. "I haven't spoken to Bill Maher in so long," Stern revealed. "I had years when I didn't talk to him when we were not friends. I did the show as a favor to him because we were repairing a relationship."

At one point in the podcast (with guest Julian Lennon), Maher addressed how he feels that Stern discusses his marriage to his second wife, Beth Ostrosky, too much publically. "He took a big shot at me. Basically, he says, 'Howard Stern always gets on the radio and says he loves his wife.' I've never been criticized for this. He goes, 'Haven't we had enough of that? What about his first wife? I feel really bad for her.'" Stern took issue with assumptions that Maher is making about Stern's personal life that Maher knows nothing about. "What a sexist thing to say. What a convoluted, nutty thing to say," Stern continued. "He says it must hurt [Berns'] feelings that I'm in love with a different woman. It's assuming that he knows something about my first marriage. That, of course, the man must be leaving the woman, and the woman must be devastated and be sitting around pining away for her famous man."

For his part, Stern doesn't see anything wrong about the way – and how much – he discusses his marriage. In fact, he hopes it's sending a positive message to his listeners. "I don't think I come on the air every day and say I love my wife. But I thought it was a pretty positive message, especially with my audience, to say to guys, 'Instead of ragging on our wives, how about talking how we appreciate and love them?'" he added. In fact, Stern reached out to Maher to find out what the deal was with the HBO host. "I wrote in an email, I said, 'Why don't you give me a phone call? Why don't you tell me what you think about my life and my marriage?' But of course, he never wrote me back. I just wanted to see how brave he was. If he was brave enough to call me and actually get on the phone with me, and zero response." With all of that in play – and with Stern doing what he says was a favor for Maher – the SiriusXM host sees their friendship over. "I think I'm no longer friends with him," Stern shared. "I went out of my way to do that show. I don't like doing TV shows."

Donald Trump Calls Howard Stern "Disloyal": Earlier this week, Stern made it clear that he doesn't find being called "woke" an insult – just the opposite. "I am woke, motherf***er, and I love it!" declared Stern in response to a fan criticizing the radio host on YouTube. "By the way, I kind of take that as a compliment that I'm woke. 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 f***ing want," he added.

Well, Trump didn't exactly appreciate what Stern had to say – taking to what has been reported to be a social media service to respond back. "The real Howard Stern is a weak, pathetic, and disloyal guy, who lost his friends and MUCH of his audience. I did his show many times in the good old days, and then he went woke, and nobody cares about him any longer." Trump added that the radio host's "influence is gone, and without that, he's got NOTHING" – attempting to write him off as "just a broken weirdo, unattractive both inside and out, trying like hell to be relevant."

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