WASHINGTON — A revolting sketch in which shock jock Howard Stern performed in blackface and repeatedly used racial slurs has resurfaced ahead of Stern’s Tuesday sitdown with Vice President Kamala Harris.
In video from a 1993 New Year’s Eve pay-per-view special, Stern appears in dark makeup with exaggerated white lips while rattling off a series of racist jokes.
The sketch was meant to mock actor Ted Danson’s crude blackface performance earlier the same year at the Friar’s Club roast of his then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg.
In a 90-second clip reposted by former first son Donald Trump Jr., Stern used the n-word five times.
“WTF!?!?” Trump Jr., whose father has been a frequent Stern guest and attended the radio star’s 2008 wedding to wife Beth, reacted to the video.
Stern has previously expressed regret over the sketch, addressing the controversy during an episode of his SiriusXM radio show in June 2020 following public outcry over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
“The sh-t I did was f–ing crazy, I’ll be the first to admit,” Stern said at the time. “I won’t go back and watch those old shows; it’s like, who is that guy?”
“But that was my shtick, that’s what I did and I own it. I don’t think I got embraced by Nazi groups and hate groups. They seemed to think I was against them too. Everybody had a bone to pick with me.”
While acknowledging the sketch was intended to “lampoon Ted Danson, a white guy in blackface,” Stern admitted that he “probably” would not don the offensive makeup again today.
“Yeah, I was lampooning him and saying, ‘I’m going to shine a light on this,’” he said. “But would I go about it the same way now? Probably not. Not probably, I wouldn’t.”
Harris, the daughter of an Afro-Jamaican father and Indian mother was scheduled to join Stern Tuesday afternoon.
The Democrat’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.