Howard Stern, Howie Mandel argue over “AGT” act
“America’s Got Talent” judges Howard Stern and Howie Mandel got into another major disagreement during the Tuesday episode of the reality TV competition.
According to reports, just a week after the two men strongly argued over the merits given to Big Barry — who was subsequently eliminated from the competition — Howard Stern and Howie Mandel went head-to-head again over the music group Wordspit and the Illest.
After the hip-hop group performed their original song, “Lights, Camera Flashing,” 56-year-old Mandel said that the group, his one-time favorite, had left him “angry.”
“I think you just made the most disastrous choice you could have made, and that’s doing an original song,” Mandel said, saying that the other contestants who perform well-known songs fair better generally in a “popularity contest” such as “America’s Got Talent.”
After co-judge Sharon Osbourne agreed with the comment of Howie Mandel, Howard Stern said, “I guess I’m living on another planet from these two.”
Stern went on, saying, “I loved it. I got to hear what you guys have for real. You’re one of the tightest bands I ever heard on a TV show. The musicianship is off the charts. Thank god for originality.”
“These two, I think, were holed up somewhere eating Magic Mushrooms or something,” Howard Stern said of Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel.
As previous reports have stated, Stern objected strongly when Mandel called Big Barry one of the most “memorable” performers in the competition, saying that it was time to “stop the Howie filibuster.”
“This is the apology needed to Flo Jo’s daughter [Mary Joyner], to Andrew De Leon… whose chances you ruined,” 58-year-old Howard Stern said, referring to two of the fan-favorite “America’s Got Talent” contenders who were shockingly eliminated from the competition last month.
When “America’s Got Talent” went into a commercial break, the verbal argument between Howard Stern and Howie Mandel reportedly went on and escalated to a point where both of them stood up and got into each other’s face, appearing to be playing up the altercation just for the cameras.
Even after the commercial break, the two men were still going at each other, with Stern reiterating that novelty acts like Big Barry do not deserve to take the spot of competitors who are more worthy.
“When I took the job, I took it seriously,” Stern told Mandel. “If you’re serious, you don’t do that.”