Kathie Lee Gifford on Howard Stern’s Apology: ‘God Can Touch Anybody’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Kathie Lee Gifford is letting everyone know that media personality Howard Stern apologized to her after 30 years of discord.
“It was a surprise to get a voicemail from Howard Stern,” Gifford told to Fox News Digital on May 28. “Once I listened to it, I said to my kids at the table, ‘Well, pigs have now officially flown…[But] I just always believe God can touch anybody’s heart.”
“I’m not allowed to hate anybody that hates me,” she continued. “Once you start praying for people, you can’t hate them. Love cannot live where hate does, and it’s a very simple thing.”
In 1995, the former TODAY show host heard people shout “boo” when she sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl that year. She found out later that Stern had asked his fans to “boo” her. She had never met Stern before.
Stern ridiculed her on his radio show and used her name in sentences strung with profanity.
Years later, the radio show host appeared as a guest on the TODAY show.
“The Lord…said, ‘Kathie, go down and say hello to him, and wish him well with the show,’” said Gifford. “And I said, ‘OK, Lord.’ I got up out of my hair and makeup [room]. Those girls had been told, ‘Don’t let Kathie go anywhere near the studio.’”
“I couldn’t care less. I go downstairs. They go, ‘Where are you going?’ I said, ‘I’m going to go say hello to Howard,’” Gifford said.
He had an “entourage” with him and an imposing height.
“I said, ‘Hey, it’s Kathie Lee.’ I thought it was about time. I said, ‘I want to wish you all the best with the new show.’”
“I got up, went back, sat down in the makeup room. They’d said, ‘Why’d you do that?’ I said, ‘God told me to,’” Gifford explained.
Later that day, she got a voicemail from Stern.
“He left a voicemail, and he says – I can’t even use the language that he used,” said Gifford. “It was a lot of F-words, but he was saying, ‘I can’t believe how nice you were to me. I’ve been so rude to you and you were so nice. I just need to apologize to you. Please call me.’”
“We’re having dinner, and I see the no-caller ID,” said Gifford. “I said, ‘That’s him.’ My husband and son did not want me to take that call.”
“He was horrible to me and horrendous to my entire family…I’d never met the man, never until that day, never listened to his show or anything like that. I [heard] he said certain things about me. I’d go, ‘Why? I don’t even know the man.’”
Then she and Stern talked on the phone, and he apologized.
“I said, ‘I’m really happy for you that you’re asking for forgiveness because anytime we hurt somebody in life, it’s important to ask for forgiveness,’” she said. “‘But I just want you to know that I forgave you 30 years ago.’”
“He goes, ‘What?’ I said, ‘I forgave you 30 years ago, and I’ve been praying for you every day since. And it’s the truth. He goes, ‘Oh my God.’ I said, ‘Would you like to come to dinner sometime?’ He goes, ‘You’d have me at your house?’ I said, ‘Of course,’” Gifford told Fox.
Gifford now prays for Stern every single day.
“As you grow in your faith, you learn, ‘I’ve got to pray for that person right now. What they just said was so horrible,’” said Gifford. “Just pray. Ask God to heal them, because hurt people, hurt people. It’s the truth.”
“He’s a very odd duck,” said Gifford. “But then I saw him a couple of times over at Sirius, and we were fine. I can get along with a rock.”
Fox reported, “Gifford said her faith in God made it ‘easy’ to forgive Stern. According to her book, Stern told Gifford she ‘pissed him off because I was everything he wasn’t.'”
In Gifford’s book, “I Want to Matter: Your Life Is Too Short and Too Precious to Waste,” she shares her life experiences and how she doesn’t let experiences like this impact her self-worth.
Gifford is the 2020 recipient of Movieguide®’s Visionary Award® for Furthering Entertainment with Faith & Values.
This year, the actress continues to further faith-based values through her work in Prime’s THE BAXTERS alongside TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL’s Roma Downey.
Movieguide® reported:
“I think it’s time for a show like this,” Gifford told THE TODAY SHOW. “Have you noticed people are terrified again? Everybody is afraid. Everybody is, and with good reason too often, you know. There is a lot of hopelessness.”
…Gifford believes the world needs more shows like THE BAXTERS as people have become afraid to express their God-given uniqueness.
“That’s the other part, too, that’s missing in the world today. Everybody can put a filter on you, and I think God went to an awful lot of trouble to make us completely unique—if he did that with the snowflakes, you know,” Gifford said. “And then we try to cookie-cutter what everyone is saying. If you’re going to live a life, live an authentic one.”
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