Howard Stern insiders skewer his titanic ‘ego’ and expose his backstage diva demands… as he melts down over much-younger rival

Notorious radio shock jock Howard Stern, 71, could soon find himself the butt of the joke, according to insiders, who have suggested staffers are secretly trying to ‘jump ship’ and work with podcaster Alex Cooper.

It is little surprise that Stern’s network SiriusXM is backing the Call Her Daddy host, 31, to be the ‘future of Sirius’ after it was announced she had signed a $125million, three-year deal with the satellite radio in August 2024.

But the move is said to be a hard pill for Stern to swallow.

‘Howard knows that they are spending much more money on promoting Alex and her podcast,’ an insider told the Daily Mail.

‘He sees the writing on the wall that she’s now the future, and Sirius seems more interested in putting money into her. He can’t swallow that gigantic pill that she’s the future.’

The Howard Stern Show had been teasing a big announcement for weeks leading up to his return from his annual summer break on September 2 – which was later pushed back to September 8 due to illness.

Fans were then tricked into believing his show was going to be cancelled at the end of this year following the expiration of his $500 million five-year contract.

However, when he returned to the show earlier this month, he informed listeners that all the rumors were ‘completely false.’

He even enlisted Bravo head honcho Andy Cohen to prank listeners into thinking he was replacing Stern – which is something the longtime radio personality would be ‘happy’ about if it were to ever happen down the road, according to our insider.

‘But with Alex, he doesn’t like that she’s not “regular radio” and that Sirius is backing her and shelling their money into her pockets,’ they said, adding that Stern’s ‘ego is taking over’ and he’s being ‘far from welcoming.’

‘His mindset is always “there’s no one else but him”,’ they said.

They also claimed that Stern has given Cooper the cold shoulder whenever she has been at SiriusXM’s New York City offices – her studio is based in Los Angeles – mainly because ‘he doesn’t want to talk to anyone.’

‘If he comes into the office, he’s quickly escorted in with security and quickly escorted out. There’s no interacting with other talent,’ the insider said.

‘His security team there treats him as if he’s of presidential status.’

Stern’s show has been on the ‘downfall’ for over two years after he was branded too ‘woke’ and losing scores of listeners when he shared his political beliefs about now-President Donald Trump back in September 2024.

The show went from having 20 million listeners a day at its peak to figures as low as 125,000 listeners – although ratings for the latest episodes have not been revealed.

And it’s not just fans who are ready to abandon ship – but his staff too.

‘The Sirius staff will follow the money,’ the insider claimed. ‘These are people who are worried about paying rent, paying for their family, so they would leave in half a second if they were offered a job with Alex.

‘If his staff leaves, of course Stern would be afraid that they jump ship and she keeps his staff.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to Stern’s reps and SiriusXM for comment. 

A source previously told the Daily Mail that staffers are ‘panicking’ behind the scenes at The Howard Stern Show.

‘Fear has sunk in that next week, next month, they might not have a job. It’s not fair to a lot of them,’ they said. ‘And, truthfully, getting laid off has been in the back of their minds for quite some time.’

Former staffer Steven Grillo and author of Gorilla Parts, whose book shares stories from being ‘the most famous Stern intern ever,’ said the host has ‘such talented staff members who should all be working on some other show where they can express their true talent.’

‘Howard has the ability and the genius to find people that are extremely loyal and exploit them. He has an extremely loyal staff – everybody was always loyal to him.

‘But there were people that he finds, people that are diehard loyal people, and he brings them into the fold and he makes them famous,’ Grillo explained, ‘and then he’s able to keep them and give them enough money just to survive and eat but never enough money to have a house like he does.’

Grillo previously slammed Stern for pulling off ‘the biggest douchebag, hoax of the century’ and called him a ‘fallen star.’

Cooper’s $125 million deal promises exclusivity on Sirius for advertising and distribution rights for her podcast and her Unwell network content.

In February 2025, SiriusXM launched two new channels, Unwell Music and Unwell On Air, featuring live daily shows, playlists, and stories from Cooper and other hosts.

On September 8, Stern told listeners that one of the rumors to cross his path was that he was ‘leaving because of Alex Cooper.’

He responded: ‘I don’t know Alex Cooper,’ and thought that people were talking about Alice Cooper, ‘a rock star from the f*****g ’80s.’

‘And then I realized they’re talking about a podcast.

‘And let me tell you how I feel about Alex Cooper, how I feel about any person who works on these channels, God bless them. If they can bring in a subscriber, it can only be good for me. I own this stock, I’m still waiting to get rich from it.

‘I need people to come in and subscribe for Alex Cooper,’ he said, adding that he didn’t care if SiriusXM paid Adolf Hitler, Harvey Weinstein, Vladimir Putin or Bill Cosby as long as they have subscribers.