Howard Stern Asks Al Michaels to Promote Vaccination During Super Bowl Broadcast

Super Bowl LVI is right around the corner. It's NBC's turn to host the broadcast, so Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth will be on the call (and quite possibly for the last time together). Howard Stern interviewed Michaels on his show today and had a suggestion for how the longtime broadcaster should use his time in the spotlight.

In an excerpt captured by Mediaite, Stern asked Michaels to take the rare opportunity he has to reach every corner of America and promote vaccination among the viewers.

“When there’s a 100 million [people watching] do you ever feel, and I know with sports you can’t be controversial,” Stern said to Michaels on his SiriusXM radio show. “No one’s there to hear your opinion I get all that — but Al please, when you’re on there and you got 100 million people tell them to get vaccinated for Christ’s sake, you know what I mean?” Stern pleaded. “Don’t you ever wish you could just like sort of break out and say what you feel? Wouldn’t it be great to advocate a bit?”

Michaels deflected the question a bit and stated that Stern is right to think that nobody watching the Big Game cares about his opinion on non-football matters. Furthermore, the structure of the broadcast doesn't allow for much time for him to insert his own opinions on anything unrelated to the game, even if he wanted to. Per Mediaiate:

“The structure of what’s happening in the middle of the game doesn’t allow you to do that. And all that would do is piss a lot of people off if you go in that direction.”

He's certainly right that it would cause quite a hubbub. It doesn't sound like we'll get a Michaels-sponsored PSA about vaccines during the broadcast this year. Although it does seem Stern will continue to use his own platform to call for everybody to get the jab.