The radio personality’s assistant claims that her position was terminated due to “a hostile work environment.”

Howard Stern finally addresses ex-assistant’s lawsuit against him: ‘A thinly veiled attempted shakedown’

The radio personality's assistant claims that her position was terminated due to "a hostile work environment."

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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April 30, 2026 1:17 p.m. ET

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Howard Stern in 2025. Credit:

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- Howard Stern called the recent lawsuit his ex-assistant filed against him "a thinly veiled attempted shakedown."

- Stern's own filing alleges that the former assistant, Leslie Kuhn, "hatched a plan to extract a staggering 'hush-money' payment" from the radio personality.

- Kuhn claims that her role was terminated because of "a hostile work environment," among other factors.

Howard Stern has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that he and his wife created a hostile work environment.

The radio personality is challenging claims that his former executive assistant Leslie Kuhn made against him, his wife, and his production company, One Twelve.**

"We are not going to play this out in public," Stern's attorney told * *in a statement. "The Sterns are entitled to enforce nondisclosure agreements signed by employees who enter their home and their private life, and they have filed a motion to address the lawsuit and the conduct of Ms. Kuhn and her lawyer."

In court documents filed on April 29 and obtained by **, Stern calls Kuhn's lawsuit "a thinly veiled attempted shakedown" and alleges that she "hatched a plan to extract a staggering 'hush-money' payment" from him.

Howard Stern in 2024.

Jason Koerner/Getty

Stern's filing also alleges that Kuhn "pretends she filed this action to 'protect her reputation' and defend herself against 'accusations' defendants made" but that "the only reason Kuhn's termination has become public is because she and her counsel chose to file this sensationalized lawsuit, announced her termination to the world, and then deliberately fanned media attention."

The radio personality claims that Kuhn "manufactured a nonexistent 'dispute'" and filed a lawsuit "founded on a series of bald-faced lies," asking the court to "free her from confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements that she indisputably signed," adding that Kuhn was allegedly hoping the Sterns would "simply pay her to make her 'go away.'"

Kuhn says she was never given any confidentiality or nondisclosure agreements, but Stern's filing alleges that she signed several, calling her claims "demonstrably and incontrovertibly false."**

Stern's attorney also pushed back at the former assistant's "hostile work environment" accusations. "Kuhn's baseless, inflammatory allegation was not asserted for any legitimate purpose but solely to generate salacious headlines and to pressure defendants into capitulating," the filing claims.

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Stern's legal team also states that "Kuhn’s conduct underscores why parties like [the] defendants — which include famous public figures — are entitled to safeguard their privacy by contractually requiring those granted access to their homes and personal lives" to sign agreements.

In a statement to **, Kuhn's attorney said her team stands in "vigorous opposition" to Stern's filing and that it is not "a threat to Ms. Kuhn's claims, factually or legally."

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

Kuhn worked primarily at the Sterns' Hamptons mansion from January 2024 to February 2026. Before that, she had been the office manager for SiriusXM's *The Howard Stern Show* since 2022. Kuhn initially filed a lawsuit against the Sterns and his production company on April 5, alleging that she was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement and nondisclosure agreement at the time of her "manufactured" termination in February.

Along with serving as Stern's executive assistant, she worked with his wife's nonprofit Beth's Furry Friends, an "extensive at-home feline rescue and fostering operations."**

Howard Stern in 2013.

Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Though Kuhn's role was allegedly terminated "for cause" in her complaint, she claims her termination "was the result of, among other things, a hostile work environment and enablement of that hostile work environment, immense pressures on the household created by irresponsible and untenable animal rescue and fostering operations occurring on site, and massively disorganized and questionable business operations and accounting practices."

Beth's Furry Friends did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.

In an amended complaint filed on April 12, Kuhn seeks the "right to speak freely" via the lawsuit, with a $2.5 million valuation.

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