Magic Johnson and Howard Stern haven’t spoken in decades, ever since the shock jock’s uncomfortable appearance on The Magic Hour in 1998. Johnson recalled the incident, in which Stern made racist and offensive comments while on the athlete’s short-lived talk show, to Variety.
“So many times, I wanted to say something and hit him at the same time — on air,” the superstar explained, looking back at the interview. “I was mad when they booked him, but there’s nothing you can do. When people look for ratings, this is what happens.”
Johnson, whose Apple TV docuseries They Call Me Magic debuts later this month, said he learned an important lesson from the incident: “I’ve never put myself — or HIV and AIDS, or my race — in that position again, ever again.”
Johnson only hosted 12 episodes of The Magic Hour, which was panned when it debuted 24 years ago. One of the sharpest critics was Stern. So, Stern was invited on the show.
“Let’s get right to it,” Johnson began during the interview. “Why have you been talking about me so much, man?”
Stern told Johnson to “stop trying to talk like the white man.”
“Everybody’s anti-Ebonics, I say let it fly,” Stern said. “What you need to do, ‘my brotha,’ is to really get down with it.”
Johnson laughed, but was clearly uncomfortable during the segment that only got worse.
“Listen, you’re a Black man, I grew up in a Black neighborhood, I’m Blacker than you are, trust me,” Stern continued. “I’m the Blackest Black man you’ll ever meet. And I’m telling you right now, when I lived in Roosevelt, Long Island, which is a Black ghetto… it was fascinating, because I was one of the people. Why does everybody have to understand every word you say? Who cares what you got to say?”
Stern pressed Johnson on his HIV diagnosis, telling the Lakers legend, “You had the life I wanted.”
“These are white chicks? Black chicks? What do we got? What did you prefer? So you would have sex with everybody? At least you had fun getting AIDS, you know what I’m saying.”
“First of all, let’s get some things straight,” Johnson replied, saying he has HIV not AIDS, and that “nobody has fun” contracting it.
“Believe me, brother, you did,” Stern added. “It sounds like fun to me.”
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