DJ Matt Siegel 'Snapped' Over Demi Lovato Dispute, Says Wife Stopped Him Quitting
A Boston radio DJ who walked off his show after he was told to stop talking about Demi Lovato's announcement that they are nonbinary, returned to the airwaves on Thursday.
Matt Siegel is the host of "Matty in the Morning" on Boston's Kiss 108 FM, the city's most popular show. He walked off set during a broadcast on Wednesday after saying his boss had told him to stop talking about Lovato's announcement.
Siegel was back on the air Thursday morning, however, and told listeners that he "snapped" when he was told by station management that he shouldn't discuss the singer any further.
"I'm here. Good morning," Siegel said Thursday, according to The Boston Globe.
"I was on a roll, and I haven't been on a roll in a long time," he said of his comments on Wednesday.
Siegel said he felt "like the old Matty on the air. And that's when I got the call [from station management] and I just snapped. I just said, 'I can't be here anymore.'"
He said he had talked to his wife "at length" about the incident and she told him "you're not ending your career over bleeping Demi Lovato." He also said the company that owns the station, iHeartMedia, had given him "full-support" and "the freedom to say what I want."
"So I'm here," Siegel said, adding that his remarks were not a "stunt" when he appeared to have quit his job on Wednesday. Siegel has hosted the show since 1981.
"It was no radio stunt, if you were looking at my eyes when I wanted to quit," Siegel said. "Some people thought it was a gag. It's not a gag."
He said 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."
Siegel suggested financial reasons were behind his decision. "It's their inheritance," he said, referring to his children. "It's a big move to quit. So there it is. I'm here."
What did Matt Siegel say?
On Wednesday, Siegel had made a joke at Lovato's expense, prompting management to tell him not to do so. He reacted on air, apologizing to his co-hosts before walking off.
"Today I was anti-wokeness and I can't do that," Siegel said. "So basically, what I'm told is, I can talk about light, funny things like where the Jonas Brothers are going to be, but I can't do what I really want to do, which is just be a funny comic and tell it like it is, so I'm ending my portion of the radio show right now. It has been a hell of a run, but I think it's coming to an end."
"Bill and Lisa and Bex and Dom, I'm sorry for putting you in this position but I was told by my boss I cannot talk about what I want to talk about. By the way, it's a joke—the whole binary thing. I don't care what Demi Lovato does but now we need to worry about you might offend someone. So basically I offended right-wing people and now I offended left-wing people. Basically what they want me to do is you know a lightweight show," he said.
Siegel later told Boston.com that he's "against her [Lovato's] binary thing." He also said he had been told something similar with regard to former President Donald Trump during the 2020 election.
"We were having fun with it, and my boss called up and said that I'd crossed the line and they didn't want me talking about it anymore," Siegel said. "I responded by saying, 'If I can't talk about what I'm thinking at this point in my career, I don't want to be on the radio anymore.'"
Newsweek has asked Kiss 108 FM for comment.
