Howard Stern didn’t mince words when discussing the situation involving Gabrielle Union and America’s Got Talent. Speaking on his Sirius XM show, the longtime radio show host suggested that Simon Cowell “orchestrated” the entire situation.
He said it was no surprise him because he believes Cowell calculates these type of things. He said that Cowell is always searching for the next It-girl, explaining that he seeks “hotter chicks and younger chicks.”
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Stern previously served as a judge on the talent competition from 2012 to 2015.
“He sets it up that the men stay, no matter how ugly they are, no matter how old they are, no matter how fat they are, no matter how talentless they are,” he shared.
“What he manages to do on all his shows is he constantly replaces the hot chicks with hotter chicks and younger chicks,” he continued. “Howie’s (Mandel) doing a fine, serviceable job — why don’t they change him? And why don’t they change Simon? … This is the ultimate example of a boys’ club.”
It was revealed by Variety that that Union, along with Julianne Hough, would not be returning as judges next season. The situation apparently came to a head when Union took offense to a joke that was made by Jay Leno and went to human resources to complain about the situation, to no avail. There were also numerous notes left for the two female judges about their appearances that made the two uncomfortable.
Jay Leno made his first public comment to the Daily Mail recently.
“I love Gabrielle Union, she’s a great girl. I really enjoyed working with her, she’s really good,” he said to reporters outside one of his shows.
Replacements for the two have not been announced yet.
This isn’t the first time an uncomfortable situation has arised within AGT. Following Nick Cannon’s exit from the series, he revealed he quit because he knew he was about to be let go after making a racial joke about the show’s image.
“I was to be punished for a joke … My soul won’t allow me to be in business with corporations that attempt to frown on freedom of speech, censor artists, and question cultural choices,” Cannon wrote on Facebook. “Not to get too detailed but this isn’t the first time executives have attempted to ‘put me in my place’ for so-called unruly actions.”
