newsmakers

newsmakers

Stern on ‘Late Show’ job: ‘My plate is full’

NEW YORK

Howard Stern is just one of the names industry spectators are floating around as a possible replacement for David Letterman.

At least for now though, the longtime radio personality says of the idea, “My plate is full.”

Stern addressed the late-night TV talk-show host’s retirement announcement while arriving in New York on Friday for “America’s Got Talent” auditions. Stern is one of the judges on the show.

The 60-year-old stressed Letterman’s impact on late-night TV, saying he’s sad to see Letterman leave. Stern said he enjoyed his appearances on the “Late Show with David Letterman.”

“I’ve been doing the show for years and years, and I’ve had so many funny, great times with him that, you know, it’ll be weird not to have him there.”

Stern also said there are few people in show business whose opinion matters to him, and Letterman is one.

Letterman announced Thursday he plans to retire next year.

“America’s Got Talent” returns in May.

Steinem honored with annual DVF award

NEW YORK

Nobody can really believe that Gloria Steinem has just turned 80 years old — and that includes Steinem herself.

“I don’t believe it for a minute,” quipped Steinem, the venerated women’s- rights activist, Friday night at the annual DVF awards, where she was honored with a Lifetime Leadership Award.

“I’ve been stopping people in the street practically,” she said in a brief interview before the awards ceremony, “and saying, ‘You know, I’m having an 80th birthday,’ because I have to convince myself!”

Steinem said she spent her March 25 birthday in Botswana, riding elephants. “I had done it before, and I knew that on my birthday I wanted to be riding elephants,” she said. But was it the best day of her life? No, because she says the best day of her life is yet to come.

“I live in the future,” she said. And besides, she added: “I have to live for another 20 years, because I can’t finish my writing deadlines! So I have to at least make it to 100.”

The DVF Awards were created in 2010 by designer Diane von Furstenberg and The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation to recognize and support “women who are using their resources, commitment and visibility to transform the lives of other women.” Six women were honored Friday for their contributions.

Associated Press