Les Moonves is Telling Letterman "Not to be Kind" to Stern



(image via tcf.net)

The incendiary feud between Les Moonves and Howard Stern -- because that is ultimately what this truly is -- heats up considerably today. Howard Stern's "I Hate Les Moonves Tour" moves from the Sean Hannity Show, over to David Letterman next week.

Yesterday's bombshell that Howard Stern was going to go on CBS to talk about the suit -- the only loser in that scenario is Jay Leno -- left many in the media asking what the hands-on Les Moonves would have to say on the subject. Reports Lloyd Grove:

"CBS chief Les Moonves is letting Howard Stern appear on 'The Late Show With David Letterman' � even though the network is suing the shock jock. 'But he's putting a lot of pressure on Letterman,' says an insider. 'He's telling Letterman 'not to be kind' to Stern.' A CBS rep argues, "The fact that he is scheduled to appear on Monday speaks for itself.'"

Marksfriggin yesterday covered Howard's take:

"Howard talked about how Les Moonves is out partying while his radio division is bleeding dry. Howard said that when he was working at that company he wasn't out partying every night. He was at home in bed sleeping so he could be ready to do his radio show every day."

Howard is talking about the Wireimage pictures of Les Moonves at the Oscar scene with his young, hot wife Julie Chen. Stern makes the curious point that while the CBS Radio division is taking a hit, Les is involving himself in a remake of "Network," the lawsuit (for which Howard repeatedly says he's "Moved on," and, now, the partying. Stern is painting a convincing portrait of Les as Noro fiddling as Viacom's Radio division burns.

"Howard read more about (David Lee) Roth's comments and he was apparently saying that he was going to have a news woman brought in so he could bounce some ideas off of her. Roth said that would be like having a Robin Quivers in there and that's not going to work for him. He said that there's only one Howard Stern and one Robin Quivers and he's not going to try to be Howard Stern."

An interesting side note is that Roth gave Howard100 News an interview outside the 92 Free studios. No word on what the CBS Radio types have to say about that. In the interview, among other things, Roth says that He's not afraid of losing his radio gig ("No, I kept my day job ... "(CBS Radio) going to hang in probably until the end of the summer before they are really going to look at ratings.") One of Howard's strategies is to use his cordial relations with Viacom's "talent" -- David Lee Roth, the Letterman Show -- to aid him in his battle. Les Moonves has soetimes shaky relations with talent (Moonves is not above playing hardball with the Viacom talent, which could help Stern get internal leverage from CBS former coleagues) Back to Marksfriggin:

"Howard said that CBS Radio should give Roth a chance to do his own show and build it up but they're not even going to allow him to get that far. They're setting him up for failure and probably won't pay him if he doesn't comply with their wishes.

"Howard was also talking about how Les Moonves is just like that guy Pig Virus. They both had the same kind of attitude. He said that Les will be one of the biggest disasters at CBS that we've ever seen in the history of broadcasting. He said that their radio division is already tanking with Les in charge.

"Artie asked what the chain of command is over at CBS. Howard said that it's Sumner Redstone and then two guys are fighting it out for the next level. Tom Freston and Les Moonves are fighting it out but after this lawsuit, Les probably isn't going to get it. Below Les is Joel Hollander. He said that this guy is helping to run the company into the ground. He hired his brother to work for the company and while he's doing that, Les is out at Oscar parties and things like that. "

"Howard said that you can go to WireImage.com and type in Les' name and see how he's parading his wife Julie Chen around while the radio division is crumbling. Artie said that he was talking to his buddy Frank Sebastiano about the lawsuit and he can't understand the case himself. No one can understand it according to Howard. He said that we're all going to see Les' career crumble over that and the radio division's failure.

"Artie said that he saw that Howard is going to be doing Letterman's show on Monday night. Howard said he didn't want to say how that all came about but then said that Dave wanted to have him on now more than ever. He didn't want to say anything to get anyone in trouble so he held back from saying anything. Howard said that if Les cancels his appearance now he's going to look like an idiot. If he doesn't cancel it, he'll look like an idiot... either way he's going to look like an idiot.

"Howard said that Les is an idiot because they renamed the radio division from Infinity to CBS Radio right before they took this huge hit. Gary came in and said that he knows that Howard has a plan but he hasn't been brought into it yet. Howard said that he's had a plan ever since the day he sat in Les' office and saw the smug look on his arrogant face. He said that he's been working on this plan ever since then and he's playing it as a chess game. He's six moves ahead of the guy. He said that Les probably thought he'd never open his mouth about this case, but he was wrong. "

More at the invaluable Marksfriggin.com