A long-running radio show called Matty in the Morning for Boston's Kiss 108 nearly came to an end earlier this week after 71-year-old host Matt Siegel appeared to rage quit on-air in response to being told not to make fun of Demi Lovato's gender identity.
Lovato came out as non-binary on Wednesday (May 19) and revealed that they would be using they/them pronouns going forward — something that Siegel evidently took issue with. Siegel alleges his producers asked him not to speak about the situation during his show, leading to him announcing his departure. The audio of the radio host's on-air meltdown was captured in the tweet below.
Lovato came out as non-binary on Wednesday (May 19) and revealed that they would be using they/them pronouns going forward — something that Siegel evidently took issue with. Siegel alleges his producers asked him not to speak about the situation during his show, leading to him announcing his departure. The audio of the radio host's on-air meltdown was captured in the tweet below.
"Basically what I'm told is I can talk about light, funny things like where the Jonas Brothers are gonna be, but I can't do what I really want to do, which is just be a funny comic who tells it like it is. So I'm ending my portion of the radio show right now," Siegel said during Wednesday's show. "I am the biggest of all time, and they said, 'Shut up, Matt! Stop talking. Well, I hope you're happy, because I just stopped talking. Matty out."
Despite his dramatic exit, Siegel returned to work yesterday (May 20) and doubled down on his comments about Lovato's pronouns, calling their statement about their identity "ridiculous" while misgendering them multiple times.
"I'm against her binary thing," Siegel later told Boston.com. "I think she's a troubled woman, and a lot of young people are taking her seriously, and it bothers me. But of course, it's a comedy show, so I did it in the context of jokes."
During Siegel's Thursday radio show, he said that his producers "basically said, please don't quit and they said that I have total support from them and freedom to say what I want."
