During Howard Stern’s lengthy career, he became one of the wealthiest radio show hosts ever. Stern also has been able to use his radio show to reveal many amazing stories including the time a famous comedian’s boyfriend beat him up.

Before Michael Jackson passed away, the music legend got himself in trouble many ways, including dangling his baby over a rail. As memorable as that controversy was, it paled in comparison to when he was in the middle of his controversial criminal trial. Amazingly enough, another story Howard Stern once revealed is that Jackson tried to get him to help him with that trial.

This article will reveal how Michael Jackson asked Howard Stern to lead a protest of his trial. Then, the article will look at what Stern says Jackson would give him in return for leading the protest.

Michael Jackson Tried To Recruit Howard Stern To Help With His Criminal Trial

When Michael Jackson passed away in 2009, the entire media world reacted to the blockbuster news that he’d died. Just like everyone else, Howard Stern talked about Jackson’s passing on his radio show, as an article on Stern’s website confirms. The audio of that conversation was uploaded to YouTube in 2022, and it is truly remarkable.

Instead of focusing on Jackson’s music career or his complicated legacy, Stern spoke about the one time he met Jackson. As Stern explained to Robin Quivers and Artie Lange, Jackson met with him to try to get him to lead a protest of the singer’s criminal trial.

“It was described to me that I was going to have my audience get outraged. I was going to scream that Michael Jackson was being persecuted, and then I was going to tell my audience to take to the streets. And the plan would be hatched that I would go to the street with my audience and millions of people would show up and we would scream for Michael Jackson.”

Of course, it should go without saying that Stern never followed through with Jackson’s plan. Stern never used his radio show to passionately advocate for Jackson and whip up outrage about his trial.

While Howard Stern didn’t come to Michael Jackson’s defense during his criminal trial, several celebrities testified on the singer’s behalf. These stars included Elizabeth Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Jay Leno, Quincy Jones, Chris Tucker, Kobe Bryant, Nick Carter, Larry King, and Corey Feldman.

As a result, Stern’s devoted audience never showed up to protest on behalf of the famed singer.

Howard Stern’s comedy bit offended Dolly Parton so much the usually happy music legend threatened to sue the radio host.

Still, Jackson’s years as a beloved music artist resulted in a version of his plan playing out without Stern’s involvement. During Jackson’s criminal trial, a group of dedicated fans stood outside of court each day to support and catch a glimpse of him.

Similarly, when Jackson died and his doctor was put on trial, similar displays of support for the singer were staged outside the court. Of course, fans didn’t expect to see Jackson during that trial, but they still showed up to support him.

Before Stern revealed what Jackson and his team wanted him to do, the radio host gave some details about their meeting. According to Stern, his meeting with Jackson was pretty remarkable in another way.

Michael Jackson bought Eminem’s music catalog after the rapper insulted him in his lyrics in a truly amazing move.

During Jackson’s life, he was often surrounded by an entourage of bodyguards and assistants. However, when Jackson and Stern met, the room only had a handful of people in it, as the radio host explained when he was asked who was there.

“Myself, my agent Don Buckwald, Sandy Gallon, a very well known, uh, he had a production company with Dolly Parton called Sand Dollar, and he was a famous manager, and things like that, ya know. And uh… Michael, and that was it.”

Howard Stern continued, “That was the four of us in that meeting, I don’t remember anybody else being there, and believe me, if you were in that meeting, you wouldn’t remember anyone else either.”

Stern also went on to describe to Quivers and Lange what his biggest takeaway from meeting with Jackson was. As Stern explained, he was shocked by seeing what Jackson looked like close up.

“He was like Frankenstein, he had the different parts of different people. And this guy, when I sat in that room with him, you couldn’t even think straight, I didn’t know what to say to him, I didn’t know what to do, and he had nothing to say. I told you. We sat there, he had his nose taped with masking tape, like white masking tape wrapped in a square.”

After describing Jackson some more, Stern continued, “I mean, it was mystifying, you couldn’t figure out what was going on.”

Michael Jackson Offered Howard Stern Virtually Nothing To Go Through With His Plan

As NPR’s timeline of Michael Jackson’s legal problems reveals, the singer walked away from his criminal trial completely free. On June 13, 2005, Jackson was acquitted of all criminal charges.

Donald Trump once revealed the surprising truth about his prenup with Melania Trump when he spoke to Howard Stern.

However, based on the fact that Jackson tried to enlist Stern and his audience, he clearly was pretty worried at one point. With that in mind, Jackson must have been pretty disappointed that Stern turned him down. Jackson also may have wondered why Stern didn’t want to lead a protest of his trial.

Considering that Stern has always been fiercely independent, fans may assume that is why he didn’t agree to Jackson’s request. In all likelihood, Stern was morally against enlisting his audience like that.

Still, the amazing thing is that if Stern was open to manipulating his audience in that manner, Jackson didn’t even bother to give him a good reason to.

When Stern told his story about his meeting with Jackson, his former co-host Artie Lange asked an obvious question. “What was in it for you? Were they offering you anything, like they were going to give you money for this?”

Incredibly, Jackson wasn’t going to reward Stern at all. Jackson didn’t offer to let Stern interview him or anything else. Instead, as he explained on his radio show, Stern might have gotten to watch Jackson walk by him.

“Yeah, it was like I was being inducted into the army of Michael Jackson. And I would get the pleasure of seeing him walk by our big protest, who even knows if he would’ve walked by. I would look like a real horse’s ass if I went with this one.”