The Parents Television Council urges former advertisers to drop the NBC show, warning them that the shock jock could continue his habit of making sleazy remarks during his judging stint.
- May 8, 2012
AceShowbiz - The Parents Television Council hasn't done slamming "America's Got Talent" for hiring Howard Stern. After expressing its complaint when the shock jock was officially announced as a new judge last year, the group now sends a letter to former advertisers and urges them to drop the show.
"Stern's reputation for sleaze and misogyny is well known," so PTC's president Tim Winter writes in the letter, "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."
The head of the television watchdog points out some examples as adding, "He once told a female guest, 'I would like to kiss you and chop off your feet...I wanna bite off your fingers...I wanna have sex with you and throw you in a ditch...[and] chop your head off.' Does such commentary accurately reflect your corporate values?"
Winter continues supporting his argument by reminding people of the sexually explicit remarks Stern made about "American Idol" season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino. Back then, he said on his Sirius XM radio show, "Hey Fantasia, you're not getting little boys hard. Nobody's beating off to you...Little boys want boners. They want a Britney Spears or a Rihanna."
"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," he further warns the prospective advertisers, noting that "the risk of associating your hard-earned corporate brand image with such 'shock' is not worth the cost involved."
Neither Stern nor NBC has commented on the latest attack launched by PTC. The 58-year-old radio personality, however, had responded to the previous complaint during an interview with Piers Morgan in December 2012.
"Networks shudder for people like this," he said at that time. "I guess they get their printer out and they make a letterhead and they start to complain that I'm some sort of weird pervert who is going to convert Americans into some kind of zombie sex fiends."
"America's Got Talent" itself will kick off its seventh season on Monday, May 14 at 8 P.M. ET.
