Howard Stern: ‘Calling Sam Smith fat and gay was a compliment’
By Josh Haggis
Howard Stern has attempted to clarify his recent comments about Sam Smith.
On his radio show last week (January 23), the US ‘shock jock’ and America’s Got Talent judge verbally attacked the 22-year-old, saying: “Do you know what I love about that guy? He’s an ugly motherf***er.
Smith later appeared to respond to Stern in a succession of tweets, where he said he “couldn’t believe” what he had just read, before simply tweeting: “Ignore”. Find out more here.
In a new interview with celebrityradio.biz, Stern has discussed the controversy surrounding his remarks, saying that he meant that he thinks it is admirable that Smith has topped the charts despite being “gay, chubby” and “not Taylor Swift cute”.
“Some reporter got ahold of it – they listened to the show like it’s gospel. I felt bad because that’s so not what I was saying but you know what, who cares,” said Stern. “The fact that the press cares what I have to say shows how ridiculously talented and hot I am in . Who would even write an article about it? I guess I’m complimented in a way. I hope Sam Smith gets worried about what I really said.”
He continued: “By the way, he is gay, and he is chubby. It was meant as a compliment, he’s not cute like Taylor Swift is cute, and yet he beat the odds. I was kind of congratulating him. By the way, calling someone gay when they’s gay is not an insult. There are so many homophobes and gay haters out there, that it’s a miracle that anyone can be openly gay and get any kind of traction, whatever, I don’t care.
“When I see those articles, I think ‘I’m more important than the President’… If I say someone is fat and gay, it made more news than anything I’ve ever done. I meant it as a compliment. He’s not like a pretty boy – he’s an ugly guy like me. Most of the world is ugly. That’s why supermodels get paid so much. I happen to think Sam Smith is very talented. I think he beat the odds. I don’t think he looks like a Hollywood pretty boy,” he added.
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