NEW YORK, NY — Always a lightning rod for controversy, longtime radio “shock jock” Howard Stern came under fire this week for allegedly exploiting yet another mentally challenged guest for cheap laughs.
Stern, who has been known for decades to feature guests with various physical and mental handicaps to ridicule them for entertainment, welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris in what critics pointed to as yet another attempt to take advantage of a mentally impaired individual for his amusement.
“It’s just so tasteless to exploit special needs people like that,” said one social media commenter. “I know Howard Stern is known for these types of shameless acts, but you’d think he’d learn not to do such awful things after all these years. He clearly enjoyed having this poor mentally challenged woman on his show so everyone could have a good laugh. This was even worse than when he used to drag out ‘Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf,’ ‘Asian Pete,’ or ‘Wendy the Slow Adult’ out to make fun of them. Do better, Howard.”
Other listeners agreed that Stern’s pursuit of cheap humor didn’t make the program any less unsettling. “I’m all for having a sense of humor, but this was too far,” long-time Stern fan Bobby Donaldson said. “Howard should be ashamed of this stunt. This lady clearly has no business being paraded around for everyone to laugh at her. The worst part is I don’t think she had any idea what she was being used for. It’s really sad.”
At publishing time, Stern issued a public statement urging everyone to vote for his mentally challenged guest in November.
BIG NEWS: We made a movie, and you can watch the trailer NOW:
Click here to find out how you can watch the movie when it releases on October 11
