Howard Stern Under Attack! Could He Cause Trouble for America's Got Talent?

Watchdog group warns advertisers about new judge, complaining, "The risk of associating your hard-earned corporate brand image with such 'shock' is not worth the cost involved"

By Josh Grossberg May 07, 2012 5:43 PMTags
AMERICA'S GOT TALENT,  Howard Stern, Nick Cannon, Sharon Osbourne, Howie Mandel Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Howard Stern is unfit for the family hour.

So sayeth the Parents Television Council, which has launched a campaign calling on sponsors of NBC's America's Got Talent to pull their advertising now that the shock jock is about to start his stint as a judge alongside fellow panelists Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel.

In letters sent out to 91 corporations that have run commercials during the show, PTC president Tim Winter hailed America's Got Talent as a place that's "relatively safe for family viewing." But he said the network's decision to hire Stern "will likely result in a sharp increase in explicit content."

"Stern's reputation for sleaze and misogyny is well known; and to our knowledge his only previous judging experience consisted of looking at insecure, naked young women and telling them whether or not they were hot enough to pose for Playboy," wrote Winter.

The PTC head then ticked off several examples of what the watchdog group cites as Stern's past offenses on his SiriusXM show, including sexually explicit remarks about former American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino.

"There can be, and there must be, a presumption that Mr. Stern will only continue to conduct himself in precisely the same manner as he has done for decades," states Winter, adding that "the risk of associating your hard-earned corporate brand image with such 'shock' is not worth the cost involved."

Reps for Stern and NBC could not be reached for comment.

But the self-proclaimed King of All Media, a longtime fan of America's Got Talent, shrugged off the PTC's attacks shortly after the Peacock net announced he was taking Piers Morgan's spot at the judge's table back in December.

In an interview on the latter's CNN show, Stern said groups like PTC, which called his hiring an "act of desperation," went overboard in their denouncements and compared him to "some sort of weird pervert who's going to convert America into some kind of zombie sex fiends."

He assured viewers that he he's looking to be a "very good judge" and is taking his job seriously.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)