Howard Stern says he is “no longer friends” with Bill Maher after the latter made “sexist” remarks on the Club Random podcast.
As reported by the Wrap, Maher made the comments about Stern's second wife, Beth Ostrosky, and his first wife, Alison Berns, on the Sunday podcast. Maher said, “How does this gushing about the second wife — how does that make the first wife feel? Could we just not gush about the person while the other person can still hear it?”
“What a sexist thing to say!” said Stern on Tuesday’s episode of his radio show. “Like, what a convoluted, nutty thing to say. He ought to shut his mouth! I mean, 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, to — especially with my audience — to say to guys: ‘Instead of like ragging on our wives, how about talking about that we appreciate them and love them?’ 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.”
Howard Stern Says He Appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher as a “Favor”
Entertainment Weekly reports that Stern emailed Maher for an explanation. “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,” said Stern. “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.”
Stern and Maher were on thin ice for years before Stern agreed to appear on Real Time with Bill Maher. “I haven't spoken to Bill Maher in so long,” Stern said. “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.” He continues:
“I think I'm no longer friends with him. I went out of my way to do that show. I don't like doing TV shows. This is what happens when Bill doesn't have writers. He just goes on a ramble about somebody's life that he doesn't know. But who cares in the end?”
The Howard Stern Show airs on Sirius Satellite Radio. HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher is on pause due to the WGA strike.