Mariah Carey arrived at the 1998 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards without imagining what awaited her.
Howard Stern was recording his radio show while E! cameras documented him. She asked what camera angles they were going to use, and he replied: “Right up your dress!”. Carey already knew what she was getting into: “I’m not sure what’s going on, and you can be a little vulgar sometimes”.
Stern took it as an invitation. He asked why she hadn’t shown herself onstage. According to Nicki Swift, he also wanted to know if she wore underwear and whether she was wearing it that night. She replied: “Howard, do you think I’d go out like that with nothing on? Who do you think I am?“. And when he insisted that she loved showing off her body, she cut him off: “Howard, don’t say that. You’re ridiculing me“.
Media outlets like The Things and Nicki Swift described the treatment as uncomfortable and sexualized. Carey repeated that she was an “innocent girl” and reproached him for having previously said he didn’t believe she was biracial. Stern replied that he knew her father was Black.
The interview ended with her inviting him to talk after the show. No one knows whether that conversation took place. Years later, according to The Things, Stern apologized.