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NEW YORK (Reuters) – John Melendez, known as Stuttering John as a longtime sidekick for radio and television host Howard Stern, has sued Sirius XM Holdings Inc for using his name, image and voice without permission on channels dedicated to Stern.
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Melendez, who left Stern’s radio show after more than 15 years in 2004 and was announced for NBC’s ‘The Tonight Show With Jay Leno’, accused Sirius of using his fame to attract more listeners and commercials.
He said Sirius responded to his recent cease-and-desist letter by marginalizing his contributions to Stern’s show and threatening to take his current show, “The Stuttering John Podcast,” from his streaming service Pandora.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in the federal court in Manhattan seeks unspecified damages for Sirius’ broadcast of old recordings of Melendez on two channels dedicated to Stern, who Melendez said violated California law and his right to publicity.
Melendez said he averaged an annual salary of $ 35,000 while working for Stern. His departure came just before Stern’s show moved to Sirius from national syndicate radio.
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Sirius had no immediate comment. An attorney for Melendez also had no immediate additional comment.
Melendez, who has had a speech impediment since childhood and received his Stuttering John moniker from Stern, became known for asking inappropriate and foreign questions in what he called ‘gotcha’ interviews with celebrities and politicians.
He said his meetings with people like Billy Crystal, Ringo Starr and the Dalai Lama were loved by his fans and fans of Stern, “a fact that is well known” to Sirius.
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Melendez estimated that more than 13,000 hours of “The Howard Stern Show” have his voice, name and identity.
The case is Melendez v. Sirius XM Radio Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-06620.
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