Rich Botto/Howard Stern/Razor Mag
 

www.lukeisback.com:

Stern Q&A Raises Questions

Lloyd Grove writes:

Did he or didn't he? The folks at Razor magazine have been making a big deal about their "exclusive" Howard Stern interview purportedly conducted by former Daily News gossip A.J. Benza. But Stern insists the alleged interview never happened.

It's part of Razor's June cover story on the blue-tongued radio jock's troubles with the Federal Communications Commission.

I'm told that Razor's editors got very anxious the other day when Stern went on the air to deny that he ever gave Benza or anyone else an interview. According to MarksFriggin.com, a fan site that summarizes Stern's shows, "Howard refused [Razor's interview request] and it never happened. ... He thinks it's kind of funny that the magazine is putting out a press release saying that they have an exclusive with him when they don't."

I hear that the Razor editors' anxiety level increased when E-mails to Benza, who has written for the mag on and off since 2001, were bounced back with the message that the address was invalid.

"I have a hard time believing that A.J. Benza would make up quotes about somebody as prolific and newsworthy as Howard Stern," Razor publisher Richard Botto told me. "I think it would be career suicide, and I think A.J. knows that."

But while Benza told me he didn't make up any quotes for the article, "I never interviewed Howard. I made some calls to him personally as a friend," he explained. "We spent about 30 seconds talking about the FCC, but it wasn't under the guise of an interview. But then the magazine put out a press release about an 'exclusive interview.' It's just stupid. It's ridiculous."

When I relayed Benza's comments to Botto, the publisher wasn't happy. "He's clearly flip-flopping his position," Botto said. "That wasn't the way he presented it to our editors. It's a shame. I hate to see him take what I think is a terrific piece and turn it into something negative."

Benza, for his part, told me: "They still owe me a check."

yeah, heard howard talking about that last week on his show.

interesting