A day after rumors spread that The Howard Stern Show was being canceled, Howard Stern made a surprise return to the air with an unexpected live show featuring Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. Stern, who has been on summer break since June and wasn’t scheduled to return until after Labor Day, cut into his usual rerun programming with a special announcement.
Ulrich joined Stern live from London to reveal that Metallica is launching a new SiriusXM channel called Maximum Metallica. The band will celebrate the launch with a special concert in the Hamptons on August 28, with the channel officially starting the next day.
Stern opened the show by honoring the late Ozzy Osbourne, calling him one of the best guests ever on his program. Ulrich and Stern then talked about Metallica’s performance at the recent all-star Ozzy and Black Sabbath tribute concert, as well as Ulrich’s experience attending an Oasis reunion show in London.
The surprise broadcast came after The U.S. Sun published a story claiming Stern’s $100 million contract with SiriusXM is expiring and that the company would likely cancel his show after nearly 20 years. An unnamed source in the report said SiriusXM wouldn’t meet Stern’s salary demands and that the investment was no longer worth it.
Despite the article, there has been no official comment from either Stern or SiriusXM. However, fans quickly took to social media to dismiss the cancellation rumors, with one commenting “Canceled schmanceled” in response to a post from longtime Stern Show fan Mariann from Brooklyn.
Entertainment journalist Roger Friedman also responded to the speculation, saying the rumors from the UK tabloids are false. According to one of his sources at SiriusXM, there’s no truth to the claims of a falling out. Friedman stated that Stern is still the face of SiriusXM, has a massive presence, and that removing him would be a major loss for the platform.
He also pointed out that the articles lacked credible sourcing and noted that if Stern ever did leave SiriusXM, platforms like YouTube, X, or Spotify would likely rush to sign him.
