Howard Stern Interviews Madonna

Billboard recaps:

Did you know Madonna wrote "Vogue" in just a couple of hours? Or that she doesn't like being stoned? Or that she dated Tupac Shakur? (We really didn't know that one.) Well, she revealed that and much, much more in a nearly 90-minute interview with Howard Stern on Wednesday (March 11) -- her first interview ever with the radio personality. The chat covered a lot of ground, from her childhood and the early death of her mother to the time she was raped but didn't report it and her odd friendship with Michael Jackson. Madonna's latest album, Rebel Heart, was just released. In the interview, Madonna revealed that the album's next single will be "Ghosttown," for which she's shooting a video next week.

NFL Domestic Violence Presser Disrupted

Via Mediaite:

The Roger Goodell NFL press conference was humming along without incident when all of a sudden a man started shouting as security removed him from the room. “Don’t take me to an elevator!” the man yelled, in an obvious reference to Ray Rice. Reporters on the scene and watching from elsewhere are confirming that the man hauled out of the press conference was Benjy Bronk from the Howard Stern radio show.

Beyond bizarre.

Highest Paid Celebrities Of 2013

From the annual ranking just issued by Forbes:

Madonna‘s latest album, MDNA, was a flop. Her 12th studio album, Madonna sold fewer than 1 million copies of MDNA in the U.S. and the singles, like “Give Me All Your Luvin,” failed to impress on the pop music scene. But the tour that the Material Girl launched to go along with her new album was a spectacular success. Fans didn’t flock to stadium and spend upwards of $100 per ticket to hear Madonna’s latest stuff. They went to hear hits like “Vogue,” “Like a Virgin” and “Lucky Star.” The tour grossed $305 million and earned her the Top Touring Award at the Billboard Music Awards. Add to that strong merchandise sales, a clothing line, fragrance and investments in companies like Vita Coco and Madonna tops our list of the Highest Earning Celebrities. We estimate the pop star brought in $125 million between June 2012 and June 2013. That’s more money than Madonna has ever earned in the time we’ve been doing our Celebrity 100 list. The closest she came to $125 million was in 2009 when she earned $110 million. Madonna’s success, at age 55, just goes to show the incredible power of a successful music career.

1. Madonna — $125 million
2. Steven Spielberg — $100 million 
3. Simon Cowell — $95 million 
4. E.L. James — $95 million
5. Howard Stern — $95 million 
6. James Patterson — $91 million 
7. Glenn Beck — $90 million
8. Michael Bay — $82 million 
9. Jerry Bruckheimer — $80 million 
10. Lady Gaga — $80 million
11. Tyler Perry — $78 million 
12. Tiger Woods — $78 million 
13. Oprah Winfrey — $77 million 
14. Robert Downey Jr. — $75 million
15. Dr. Phil McGraw — $72 million 
16. Roger Federer — $71 million
17. Dick Wolf — $70 million
18. Rush Limbaugh — $66 million 
18. Toby Keith — $65 million
20. Mark Burnett — $63 million

Howard Stern Defends Ellen

Wow. A must listen.

(Tipped by JMG reader Laurel)

Christianist Group Threatens America's Got Talent Boycott Over Hiring Howard Stern

The Parents Television Council says it will demand that advertisers refuse to sponsor America's Got Talent due to last week's hiring of Howard Stern as a judge.

"It's an act of desperation on behalf of the NBC network," suggests Dan Isett, director for public policy at the watchdog group. "[The show] trails badly in the ratings across the board, and this reeks of nothing short of a PR stunt to try to draw some attention to a show that's been relatively successful and relatively family-friendly. It's going to be quite a shock to viewers that have become fans of the show to tune into next season and find a guy like Howard Stern on there every night." "We're going to serve notice to advertisers that by sponsoring this show, they are complicit and responsible for bringing Howard Stern and his name and his brand into every living room in the country," the public policy director details.

CORRECTION: In the first draft of this post, I misstated the show as being American Idol. Gawd, that moon is bright.

Howard Stern Rips Victoria Jackson

Howard Stern Falls For Christwire

I guess he didn't hear about Rachel Maddow falling for it too. Kudos once again to Christwire's brilliant satirists. Audio only and very NSFW.

(Tipped by JMG reader Tyson)

Howard Stern On "Fag"

(Via - Towleroad)

That Sounds A Little Pitchy, Dawg

Christianist groups are so horrified by the rumor that Howard Stern might replace Simon Cowell on American Idol, they've launched a preemptive petition campaign aimed at the show's producers at Fox.

WHEREAS American Idol has come to be trusted by America’s Families as reliable, family friendly entertainment.

WHEREAS Howard Stern is one of the most profane, sexually-explicit and anti-family performers in the history of the broadcast medium; and in discussing the possibility of becoming a judge on American Idol on his radio program gave audiences a preview of what he would bring to the table as a judge, talking about getting “little boys hard.”

AND WHEREAS bringing Howard Stern on American Idol, either as guest or judge would immediately render the program unsuitable for family audiences.

BE IT KNOWN that if the reports about Mr. Stern prove to be true, we will no longer watch the program; we will share our concern with our friends, family and others in our social circle; and we will contact every sponsor and urge them to consider whether they should associate their corporate image with a man who talks about “getting little boys hard.” And if Stern says anything that we feel is in violation of broadcast decency laws, we will take immediate action by filing complaints with the Federal Communications Commission against our local Fox affiliate. We ask you to immediately repudiate these rumors and commit publicly to keeping American Idol safe for family viewing.

I've never enjoyed Howard Stern in the slightest, but WHEREAS the Parents Television Council are douchebaggy busybodies, I hope he gets the gig.

Miss Universe On Gay Marriage: Why Not?

Since we've been forced to care about the opinions of beauty queens this year, I suppose it's worth noting that Miss Universe endorsed marriage equality on the Howard Stern show today.

Howard Stern took a cue from Perez Hilton and asked Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza if she would support the legalization of gay marriage. Mendoza danced around the issue a bit at first, stating that Carrie Prejean had the right to think whatever she wanted and “why should I care” what the second-runner up to the Miss USA crown thinks. When pressed further, Dayana Mendoza stated that she had several close gay friends in her life that she would like to see be able to spend the rest of their lives with the people that they loved. Howard Stern cornered her on what has apparently become the most compelling pageant question of our generation: “Should gay marriage be legal?” “Why not?” responded Dayana Mendoza. Dayana Mendoza joked that if her stance on gay marriage conflicted with her Miss Universe title, she only has about a month in her reign anyway. “Bravo!” called out Howard Stern Show openly gay guest announcer George Takei.

Like the Miss California USA pageant, Miss Universe is owned by Donald Trump.

(Tipped by JMG reader John)

Audio: Howard Stern Tells Listeners To Support Same-Sex Marriage

Yesterday Howard Stern told his typically less-than-progressive audience that they should support marriage equality and then he made fun of anti-gay activists. Audio NSFW.