Jerry Seinfeld has apologized to Howard Stern after slamming the broadcaster on a podcast released last week. Stern explained on the Tuesday episode of his show that Seinfeld, “a personal friend of ours,” had quickly gotten in touch and apologized.
“[He] called me immediately and was like, ‘Oh, fuck, I fucked up, and I want to apologize,” Stern said. “He goes, ‘You know when you’re on the air, and shit just comes out wrong?”
He said that Seinfeld, 70, had “apologized for a really long time” and had asked to come on The Howard Stern Show to explain himself, even after Stern, also 70, said he accepted his apology.
“I said, ‘Not necessary, I don’t wanna get into it. It’s awkward, it’s fine,’” Stern said. “I said, ‘I’ve had to apologize to you for shit I’ve said, I’ve had to call up people and apologize for shit I’ve done on the air when I’m a huge fan of these people. I don’t know what gets into me, I fuck up sometimes.”
Seinfeld appeared on Dana Carvey and David Spade’s podcast, Fly on the Wall, last week and said other talk shows “outflanked” Stern’s, calling theirs “the best one on the air.”
“Howard Stern invented this, right?” he said. “But we’re better than him now. Howard is interesting. Howard is a great interviewer, but comedy chops, I mean, can we speak candidly?”
He then dropped his diss on Stern, then added, “you guys play nice together, it’s smooth. You’re not jumping on each other, which is annoying to listen to.”
The next day, he apologized publicly via a statement to Entertainment Weekly.
“I really feel bad for what I said about my friend Howard Stern in a conversation with David Spade and Dana Carvey, talking about the glut of comedy podcasts. I meant to say he must feel surrounded but I said ‘outflanked’ which sounded terrible and insulting,” he said. “And of course, none of these little shows are any threat to his giant show. Anyway, it was bad and I’m sorry, Howie. I still love you. Please forgive me.”
On his show Monday, Stern waved off the fiasco, saying that he had tried to tell Seinfeld the same when he called him last week, distraught over his comments.
“Jerry, you don’t even have to. Please. This is embarrassing,” Howard said of his comments to his fellow comedian. “I’m the king of going on the air and having millions of regrets afterward.
“Apology accepted, I don’t care, and you know what?” he added, “If I’m not a comedian, I’m an interviewer, I don’t know what I am. I always considered myself a bit of a comedian, but whatever it is, don’t worry about it.”
Stern has been in the same position himself, he said.
“I said, ‘Not necessary, I don’t wanna get into it. It’s awkward, it’s fine,’” he said. “I said, ‘I’ve had to apologize to you for shit I’ve said, I’ve had to call up people and apologize for shit I’ve done on the air when I’m a huge fan of these people. I don’t know what gets into me, I fuck up sometimes.”
Stern noted that Seinfeld was having “a really bad week,” perhaps also referencing Seinfeld’s weekend, when students disrupted his commencement speech at Duke and walked out in a pro-Palestine protest action.
