Boston Radio: Prodigal Matty Insists It Wasn't An iHM Stunt

KISS 108's Matty In The Morning (Boston Globe photo)

Radio host Matt Siegel of WXKS 107.9 FM Kiss 108 FM′s “Matty in the Morning” returned to the airwaves Thursday following his abrupt sign-off during Wednesday’s broadcast after being told to stop joking about pop star Demi Lovato’s announcement that they are non-binary, The Boston Globe reports.

Siegel, who said he was being muzzled by the station, initially told listeners he was “ending [his] portion of the radio show,” but later said in a text, “I ain’t leaving.”

And on Thursday, he was back.

“I’m here. Good morning,” Siegel said as he opened the show, before diving into what happened during Wednesday’s show.

“I was on a roll, and I haven’t been on a roll in a long time,” Siegel said. And that’s when I got the call [from corporate management] and I just snapped. I just said, ‘I can’t be here anymore.’”

🔊’I’m here. Good morning.’ Matt Siegel is back on the air this morning https://t.co/2Jpcs7GiQs pic.twitter.com/HBgONabYUT

— Mike Saccone (@mikesacconetv) May 20, 2021

At issue were comments Siegel made while discussing Lovato’s announcement that the singer would be changing their pronouns. Siegel said his boss at iHeartMedia, which owns Kiss 108 FM, called him and told him to stop.

Siegel’s comments drew criticism from a prominent transgender rights group and online observers as insensitive and harmful.

Siegel spoke about Lovato’s announcement again Thursday morning.

”Somebody has to say this is ridiculous, you know. And the company was like – ‘What? You can’t talk about that,’” he said. “It’s like somebody has to say ‘Are you kidding?’ Like life’s not complicated enough. Now you’re telling young people they don’t know what they are. I say, please. You know what I’m saying?”

Siegel said that after Wednesday’s show, he talked at length to his wife, who said “You’re not ending your career over bleeping Demi Lovato.” Siegel said he also spoke with the company and received “full support” and “the freedom to say what I want.”

What bothered him most amid the rush of headlines that followed Wednesday’s segment, he said, was that many thought it was part of a “radio stunt.”

“It was no radio stunt, if you were looking at my eyes when I wanted to quit,” Siegel said.

Siegel went on to say said that if “we live in a world where you can’t say what you want, and I’m not talking about swearing, but in traditional radio boundaries, if I can’t say what I’m thinking I don’t want to do it any more.”