Howard Stern, who’s the pretty well known radio host, recently faced backlash following his interview with President Joe Biden, addressing accusations of scripted questions and claims that Biden wore an earpiece during their conversation.
Stern brought up these criticisms a few days after the interview, addressing specific allegations. One point of contention was his question about new rules requiring airlines to offer immediate refunds rather than credits for canceled flights. Critics suggested this topic was planted by the White House, with YouTuber and pundit David Pakman commenting that the airline question seemed more likely to come from Biden’s team than Stern’s SiriusXM team.
Stern refuted these claims, explaining that the question came from a conversation with producer Jon Hein, who mentioned the airline refund change as a notable accomplishment by the Biden administration. Stern stated, “When Joe Biden came in, the day before Jon Hein and I were talking about some of the accomplishments that we admire that have gone on in the past four years, and Jon says to me, ‘Hey, Howard, did you hear what Joe Biden did with the airlines?’”
Stern’s co-host, Robin Quivers, added, “If they were scripting the questions, wouldn’t that have been a lot different?” Stern agreed, dismissing conspiracy theories about scripting. Pakman, upon hearing Stern’s explanation, acknowledged that he stood corrected on the origin of the airline question.
Stern also responded to social media claims that Biden wore an earpiece during the interview, vehemently denying it and stating that his team controlled all audio during the recording. He exclaimed, “You’ve gotta fucking be kidding me! First of all, we controlled all the audio.”
On tp of that, Stern addressed criticism that the interview was too soft and did not focus enough on political policy. He clarified that his intent was not to debate policy but to engage in a more personal conversation with the president, stating, “My whole goal was not to sit there and talk politics. I’m not into that. I don’t want to debate policy.” Stern explained that his aim was to understand Biden on a personal level, believing that the president is “a very meaningful, very thoughtful guy.”
