Howard Allan Stern is a radio and television personality, comedian, and author from the United States. He is best known for his radio show, The Howard Stern Show, nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1986 to 2005 and gained popularity. He has been a Sirius XM Satellite Radio broadcaster since 2006. But do you know why Howard Stern was issued a warrant?
Howard Stern mocked Selena’s murder and burial, made fun of her mourners, criticized her music, and claimed that Spaniards had the worst musical taste. Stern then played Selena’s songs with gunshots in the background on his show.
Howard Stern versus Selena and her Fans?
A judge in South Texas has issued a warrant charging radio host Howard Stern with disorderly conduct for his on-air comments mocking fans of Selena, the Tejano singer who was tragically killed.
I did it for all the Tejano fans
Eloy Cano, Justice of Peace
The warrant was deemed unconstitutional by free-speech advocates.
It fails the First Amendment test, it’s a speech that is protected. Being a music critic, no matter how harsh, is not grounds for criminal charges.
Jay Jacobson, Executive Director for the Texas Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union
Mr. Stern infuriated Selena’s fans by disparaging her music and mocking her mourners. Mr. Stern played her music during his radio broadcast on April 3, when the Grammy-winning singer was buried in Corpus Christi, Texas, with mock gunfire in the background.
Alvin and the Chipmunks have more soul, Spanish people have the worst taste in music. They have no depth.
Howard Stern
He later apologized, but Hispanic groups rejected it. According to the justice of the peace, the warrant was issued and could be served if Mr. Stern set foot in Texas, who said he acted on a complaint filed by some of Selena’s fans. The maximum fine for disorderly conduct is $500.
(Source: La Times)
Howard Stern and his Gross Reputation
Born in Queens, New York, Stern began his radio career at WTBU, Boston University’s student station, where he earned a B.A. in 1976. He went on to work at radio stations in New York, Detroit, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., quickly establishing a reputation as a shock jock, a D.J. who uses sexual and scatological innuendo to appeal to a broad audience.
In 1985, he and his staff were fired from New York City’s WNBC after they aired a skit called Bestiality Dial-A-Date. In the early 1990s, the FCC fined Infinity Broadcasting, which then carried Stern’s program, $600,000 after Stern aired a discussion about Aunt Jemima and masturbation.
Stern was one of the first targets of the FCC’s crackdown on what it considered indecency in the media following Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction. The FCC fined Clear Channel $500,000 in April 2004, and the company announced that it would no longer do business with Stern. However, he returned to four of the six markets from which he had been barred earlier that year in July.
Stern has been chastised for remarks that have been deemed racist or otherwise inappropriate throughout his career.
(Source: Middle Tennessee State University)