Howard Stern: NBC Threatened Me Over Jay Leno Joke

Howard Stern apparently went too far.

NBC reprimanded the America's Got Talentjudge after he called fellow NBC star Jay Leno a "spineless maggot" on his Sirius XM Radio Show. The comment was in response to Leno going public with the recent Tonight Showpaycuts.

"I got a threatening kind of comment from one of the executives," Stern said last week on his radio show, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "I was laughing my a-- off. I said, 'Do not tell me to not talk about Jay Leno. I will f---ing talk about Jay Leno for four hours if you tell me not to.' I was done with Jay. Now I'm all fired up again. F--- Jay!"

Jay Leno jokes about Tonight Show layoffs, slams Comcast and NBC

Stern has feuded before with Leno, who has also been criticizing NBC's recent decisions. Last Monday, he cracked bitter jokes about the show's recent staff layoffs and his own pay cut. "Welcome to The Tonight Show, or as Comcast calls us, The Expendables," Leno said.

Still, Stern was sure to point out how much he enjoys working for the network. "I love my job on AGT, I love working for the people at NBC. They've been nothing but wonderful," Stern said. "I don't answer to anybody. Everybody knows that. That's part of the game. And that's why I'm a great f---ing judge. I will tell people if they suck."

Do you think Stern took it too far?