Howard Stern Absolutely Slams US Coverage Of The Queen's Death
The Royal Family announced on September 8 that Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully at Balmoral Castle, the family's Scotland estate. Many quickly turned to social media to pay tribute to the late monarch ranging from prominent world figures like President Biden to Elton John and other celebrities. Most thought Paddington Bear's heartfelt tribute would be the biggest surprise, but no one predicted the sheer amount of U.S. news coverage over the event.
Following the news, U.S. channels immediately pivoted towards covering the death of Queen Elizabeth, practically causing TV chaos. Networks planned days of special programming honoring the Queen and quickly sent anchors to London to get live coverage. ABC ran a primetime two-hour special covering the Queen's life, PBS debuted "Queen Elizabeth – A Royal Life," and CNN's special "A Queen for the Ages: Elizabeth II" aired the night of her death (via Deadline).
It's understandable for coverage of her death to control the U.S. media on the day of, but few expected it to continue for as long as it did. Following the specials that aired the night of her death, ABC, CBS, and NBC covered the first speech from newly crowned King Charles. CBS reportedly had 2.8 million viewers tune in to see the Friday speech after having 2.5 million viewers during their Thursday coverage (via The New York Times).
Now, six days after her death, networks are still running live coverage of Queen Elizabeth, with many preparing for her procession. While it's no news how fixated on the Royal Family the U.S. population is, many are beginning to take issue with the extended coverage. Most notably, television and radio personality Howard Stern had quite a bit to say.
Howard Stern wants the U.S. to focus on the U.S.
Howard Stern took to his radio show to express his frustration with the U.S. media's coverage of the Queen's death.
"It's weird traditions and everything and I'm like, 'Jesus, enough with the Queen!' I mean, it's America, we don't have a Queen," Stern said. "I mean, I get it. The Queen was a nice lady, I guess. My whole life the Queen has been the same Queen and there's a tradition there and she did her duty to her country, I get it, I get it, I get it but we gotta get back to [Donald] Trump, where those papers are that they found at Mar-A-Lago." Stern and co-host Robin Quivers called the Queen's death a distraction from the more important news regarding U.S. politics, and Stern was plenty annoyed. (via Daily Mail).
Stern isn't the only citizen fed up with the media's fixation on the Queen's death. The New York Times brought up the irony surrounding media outlets' nonstop coverage of a British queen's death in a country that the Founding Fathers built on fighting against the same monarchy. Old North Church, the Boston site where Paul Revere famously signaled the British march on Lexington and Concord, even hosted an event in memory of the Queen.
England's violent history of colonialism and imperialism is at the forefront of many people's minds during this time. The Boston Globe questioned how quickly U.S. networks were willing to drop everything to air King Charles' first speech but wouldn't televise President Biden's speech just a week before. The organization focused on the Royal Family's more-than-questionable history, including their infamous treatment of Meghan Markle and Prince Andrew's allegations of sexual assault against a teenager, as more than enough to dissuade the lengthy media coverage.