Howard Stern accepts Jerry Seinfeld's apology for podcast dis

Just two Long Island guys working it out: Roosevelt- and Rockville Centre-raised radio icon Howard Stern has accepted Massapequa-raised comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s apology for blurting out a disrespectful claim on a podcast last week.

“Jerry had said that basically I’m an interviewer and that I’m not a comedian and that now comedians have podcasts and comedians are, you know, funnier or something than me,” Stern, 70, said on Monday’s edition of his SiriusXM subscription satellite radio show, according to a transcript by Entertainment Weekly.

“I read it, and I went, ‘Oh, that’s weird,’ ” he continued, “because Jerry is a personal friend of ours. Especially his wife, Jessica, is really good friends with Beth” Stern, his wife.

Howard Stern said he believed Seinfeld, also 70, “came off a really bad week, let’s put it that way,” evidently referring to critics having lambasted the comic’s Netflix movie, “Unfrosted,” which debuted May 3 and has garnered a 42% positive rating on the movie-review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Regardless, “Jerry called me immediately and was like, ‘Oh … I [messed] up, and I want to apologize.' He goes, ‘You know when you’re on the air, and [a thought] just comes out wrong?’ "

“I said, ‘Jerry, you don’t even have to — please. This is embarrassing. I’m the king of going on the air and having millions of regrets afterward. Apology accepted. I don’t care, and you know what? … I’m not a comedian, I’m an interviewer. I don’t know what I am. I always considered myself a bit of a comedian, but whatever it is, don’t worry about it.’ And he apologized for a really long time, and he said it really came out wrong.”

Seinfeld even offered to appear on Stern’s show that day to apologize, noted the radio host.

“I said, ‘Not necessary, I don’t want to get into it. It’s awkward, it’s fine.’ ” Stern told his listeners. “I said, ‘I’ve had to apologize to you for [things] I’ve said. I’ve had to call up people and apologize for [things] I’ve done on the air when I’m a huge fan of these people. I don’t know what gets into me; I [mess] up sometimes. So it wasn’t really that big a deal. I didn’t really think much about it.”

On last Wednesday’s edition of the interview podcast “Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade,” Seinfeld had riffed on radio/podcast interviews with comedians, “Howard Stern invented this, right? But we’re better than him now. … Howard is interesting. Howard is a great interviewer. But, y'know, comedy chops. … [H]e’s been outflanked by” comedy podcast hosts.

Thursday in a statement to Newsday, comedy legend Seinfeld apologized.

“I really feel bad for what I said about my friend Howard Stern in a conversation with David Spade and Dana Carvey, talking about the glut of comedy podcasts," the Emmy Award winner said. “I meant to say he must feel surrounded, but I said ‘outflanked[,]’ which sounded terrible and insulting. And of course, none of these little shows are any threat to his giant show. Anyway, it was bad and I’m sorry, Howie. I still love you. Please forgive me.”