Sam Smith Takes The High Road After Howard Stern Calls Him ‘Fat’

Sam Smith knows the best defense is to turn the other cheek. After SiriusXM radio host Howard Stern referred to the “Stay With Me” singer as a “fat,” “ugly mother—er,” “effeminate” and “chubby” during Monday morning’s show, Smith didn’t buy the bait. Sam said he couldn’t believe what Stern had said, but vowed to just tune the shock jock out.

And then answered by posting a partially topless selfie. “I say what’s on my mind,” he wrote, “I might do a little time.”

The back-and-forth came while Stern was counting down the nation’s top songs on Monday, commenting that he likes Smith, explaining, “He’s an ugly motherf–ker. He’s fat. Is he gay? He looks gay to me, not that anybody looks gay, but he does seem effeminate… I like that he’s chubby and gay. That’s why I love him. He’s one of those guys I feel like, he’s really good but I feel like that will be his only hit song — beautiful voice.”
While calling Smith the “male Adele,” Stern congratulated Sam for beating the odds and scoring a huge hit. Well, as you can imagine, Stern’s comments stirred up lots of feels, so the satellite radio host responded to the controversy on Tuesday morning (Jan. 27).
“I said he’s one of us… He’s fat, he’s gay and he beat the odds because little girls love him and that’s what shows you it’s a really good song and how good a voice he’s got… and then I said he’ll probably be a one-hit wonder,” Stern said, complaining that the ensuing tabloid headlines focused on the radio host calling Smith “fat” and “gay.”
“I was laughing, I go, ‘well, at least I got some press out of it,’” Stern said. “But I feel bad because the guy thinks I don’t like him. I love him.” When sidekick Robin Quivers asked Howard if he had a problem with Smith being gay given what some pegged as a homophobic slant to the previous day’s comments, Stern replied, “No. I love that he’s gay… I actually like that Sam Smith song, it’s on my playlist.”
Meanwhile, after word emerged that Smith settled a copyright dispute by assigning songwriting credit (see below) to classic rocker Tom Petty after the Heartbreakers leader claimed “Stay With Me” sounded too much like his “I Won’t Back Down,” a spokesperson told Rolling Stone that Sam didn’t even know the song and any likeness was a “complete coincidence.”