"He said it really came out wrong"— Howard Stern says he accepts Jerry Seinfeld's apology over podcast comment

Howard Stern, best known for his namesake talk show, cleared the air about a potential feud with comedian Jerry Seinfeld. On Monday, May 13, 2024, the 70-year-old radio host on The Howard Stern Show revealed that Seinfeld called him to apologize for the comments he made on the Fly on the Wall podcast. Explaining that he accepted the apology, Stern stated —

"I said ‘Jerry, you don’t even have to — please. This is embarrassing. 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? 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.’ And he apologized for a really long time, and he said it really came out wrong."

Last week, on the Fly on the Wall podcast, Seinfeld discussed comedy podcasting with hosts Dana Carvey and David Spade. The Unfrosted director stated that Howard Stern, who has been a talk show host for a long time, has been "outflanked" by other comedy podcasts, including the two Fly on the Wall hosts.

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Jerry Seinfeld asked Howard Stern if he could come on his radio show and apologize publicly

In his interview, Seinfeld remarked, "Howard Stern invented this, right? But we’re better than him now," referring to comedians. He added, "Howard is interesting. Howard is a great interviewer, but comedy chops."

When Stern came across the comedian's comments, he felt "weird," he stated —

"I read it, and I went, ‘Oh, that’s weird,’ because Jerry is a personal friend of ours. Especially his wife Jessica is really good friends with Beth"(Stern’s wife).

However, the radio personality did not take offense and thought, "He (Jerry) came off a really bad week." The Sirius XM Radio host explained that Jerry called him to apologize and even offered to appear on his radio show to apologize publicly. To which Howard Stern replied, "Not necessary, I don’t wanna get into it. It’s awkward, it’s fine."

Talking about his reasoning, the 70-year-old explained on his show —

"I said, ‘I’ve had to apologize to you (Jerry) for sh*t I’ve said, I’ve had to call up people and apologize for sh*t I’ve done on the air when I’m a huge fan of these people. I don’t know what gets into me, I f*cked up sometimes. So it wasn’t really that big a deal. I didn’t really think much about it."

Howard Stern is an American radio and media personality who self-describes himself as the "king of all media." Per his profile on IMDB, the 70-year-old has been associated with the industry since 1975, when he first began working on radio at Boston University. His work has earned him several awards, including Billboard's Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year eight consecutive times.

Seinfeld's interview with David Spade and Dana Carvey was met with criticism. On Wednesday, May 8, a representative for the comedian shared a statement with Entertainment Weekly on his behalf that stated he "felt bad" about what he said on the show. He clarified that he "meant to say he must feel surrounded" but said "outflanked," which "sounded terrible and insulting." The statement concluded —

"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."

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Jerry Seinfeld's interview on Fly on the Wall is available online on various podcast platforms and YouTube.