Legacy takes years, even decades, to form. On the contrary, tearing them apart can be much easier.
The most obvious example in recent years? Bill Cosby.
One of the comedy’s living legends saw his career fall apart when sexual assault allegations began piled up in 2014.
Now? Try to find someone praising Bill Cosby, considered by many to be the most family-friendly comic book series of his generation. A new Showtime documentary, “We Need to Talk About Cosby,” might squeeze the last remnants of his Hollywood saga.
Even those who can separate art from artist can wince at a single rerun of “The Cosby Show.”
Howard Stern never behaves like the old brother boy he plays behind the mic. It was all an act, a way for the monogamous star to free her Id from the confines of a radio studio.
However, his new character is breaking with a legacy that has taken decades to form, one unlike any other in broadcast history.
It all started with the so-called kinder, gentler Stern. The traumatized man says he has put his anger aside thanks to years of therapy.
No DJ funerals of his competitors, thank you.
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He also grew up, abandoning the ranks of strippers and porn stars in his spacious studio. His interviews, the constant chatter that separates the stars from their PR talking points, has always been the show’s secret weapon.
Now, they have gained cultural clout as the media, which had hated him for decades, warmed to his interview skill set. Reporters welcomed the premiere of 2019’s “Howard Stern Comes Again” as a deep apology for underestimating him for so long.
New Stern still available lose something profound in the transition.
He started doing his culture punches, to begin with. The man who once threw a tantrum often sounded like me. He even kissed deeply flawed people like Hillary Clinton and Governor Andrew Cuomo in a way that even “Morning Joe” could mock.
He also refuses to taunt his Hollywood buddies like Jimmy Kimmel, eventually giddy to join the fun kids’ club. Stern used to pride himself on being an outsider.
No more.
Stern makes up with arch-enemies like Kathie Lee Gifford and Rosie O’Donnell when banning great actor Gilbert Gottfried from the program. And when Artie Lange vacated “The Jackie Chair” as the official comic book curator, Stern left that chair empty.
“Howard Stern Show” slowly left the cultural radar as his intelligence and influence waned.
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However, he continues to cash those giant SiriusXM checks, while ramping up his holiday schedule. He took Summer vacation 2021. Summer School… for the King of All Media?
The worst is yet to come.
COVID-19 has broken down what remains of the old Howard Stern. He no longer broadcasts from his studio, preferring to work from home like many blue state teachers. The thin, healthy speaker sounded terribly frightened about the pandemic, despite taking every available vaccination measure to avoid hospitalization or death.
He is not kind to people who put the virus at risk.
“F— them. F— their freedom. I want the freedom to live,“Stern announced late last year, the channel in several Governor.
He rages against athletes who question a vaccine’s mission, ignoring the science that shows they’ll catch the virus and be as good as new within a few days.
He yells at anyone who violates the narrative imposed by Fauci – think Aaron Rodgers, Tennis players Novak Djokovic and Joe Rogan. The latter goal is most important to Stern, as Rogan’s “Experience” is the sonic sensation his own show once had.
The extremely competitive Stern has finally met his broadcast match.
The “evolved” Stern still has a lot of anger issues, even after all that therapy. Recently, he raged against unvaccinated Americans, saying they should left to die rather than being treated by regional hospitals.
For that, Tucker Carlson stoned Stern during his signature Fox News presentation, calling him a “coward”. You can tell by the tenor of the attack that Carlson isn’t happy to see the giant acrobatic.
“There is something sad about this. Very sad.” Carlson lamented.
Howard Stern was once extremely brave and courageous. But now, he became a coward. pic.twitter.com/HL3E0wMx9S
– Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) January 21, 2022
Stern’s COVID mania conjures up an aging Howard Hughes, dragging around his million-dollar home instead of enjoying all that life has to offer. Or, even worse, a sick Karen caught up in a viral video with no sense of self.
The timing, for the radio superstar and his loyal fans, couldn’t have been worse.
Stern is clinging to his personal fear factor as even freelance shows like “Real Time with Bill Maher” get fans excited to talk about leave the pandemic.
Fear advocates like CNN are finally admitting some truths most Americans know about this virus, but Stern still looks like March 2020, a time of great fear. and little knowledge.
Add them all, and the Stern legacy disappears with each broadcast. And one of the factors that could damage his legend is directly related to his radio glory days.
Freedom of speech.
Stern collided with the FCC several times during his early years. The conservative right took aim at him for his prankster back then. He returns early and often, from his perch.
His 1991″Nailed by FCC“Release catches that battle.
Stern’s voice is mostly absent from the current Cancel Culture conversation, something much more sinister when the Left is the force of censorship.
Why wasn’t he on the front lines defending Dave Chappelle against the waking mob? Did he cut out Cancel Culture berating people for deleting classic sitcom episodes or punishing comedians for blackface clips made decades ago?
Stern had worn blackface himself earlier in his career. He played offensively counter his troubled past by attacking then-President Donald Trump ahead of the 2020 election.
It worked.
Comic podcasters like Rogan, Tyler Fischer, Tim Dillon, Ryan Long and Adam Carolla received Stern’s free speech baton. Perhaps Stern was too busy planning his next vacation to join them?
Recently he asked Remove Culture mob not to kill Joe Rogan, but then side with Neil Young in the rocker’s fight to, yes, Cancel Rogan.
“I am against any form of censorship, really, you know, I really am. I don’t like censorship, but when you’re talking about life and death. ”
Brave. Brave. Completely disconnected from the Howard Stern we used to know.
Stern’s radio career is legendary, despite what crazed journalists have told us for most of his career. Few performers influenced the profession like him.
Rush Limbaugh is the only contemporary vocalist to match Stern’s broadcast reign. The late speaker’s bravery in the face of terminal cancer, and the battles that continue despite his declining condition only enhance his legacy.
Stern’s career deserves the respect the media denied him for so long. If he were simply calling in on his current job duties, fans old and new would forgive the decline.
No one stays at the top forever.
Instead, Stern is betraying his past in ways that might make us see his legacy in a new, less flattering light.
