Even more than his present popularity, despite his controversial past, he is seen by many as an entertainment legend who helped transform talk radio and interview-based entertainment. His SiriusXM talk show is still followed by countless fans. Which is why Stern’s old video is actually timely news. And in today’s hyper-connected, social media-fueled environment, the incidents gain rapid attention and wide-spread condemnation. Even before America’s attention is refocused on race in the aftermath of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, comedians and entertainers have regularly stepped over the line – and sometimes far over the line – as they try to humorously intersect the sensitive issue of race and comedy. Fallon was forced to apologize for his troubling lack of judgement, expressing contrition via social media:įallon is not alone. In the offensive skit, Fallon wore a blackface while impersonating fellow comedian Chris Rock. Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC ’s The Tonight Show recently came under fire for his own incident from 2000 when he was a cast member of Saturday Night Live.
The approach taken by these television and internet hosts are not without risk. And popular podcasters like Joe Rogan have gained a big following by hosting guests who simultaneously entertain engage with one another while entertaining unproven conspiracy theories on a range of current events. Late night television shows like The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, Jimmy Kimmy Live!, Real Time With Bill Maher, and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which regularly traffic in political themes, became popular forums for political figures and celebrities alike.
In many ways, Stern foreshadowed America’s current entertainment landscape, which blurs the lines between entertainment and news commentary. In Howard Stern’s early days, the infamous “shock jock” was one of the first of a new generation of radio show hosts that blurred outrageous commentary with substantive conversation, drawing huge audiences and a much-publicized battle with the FCC over his programming.