Radio host told not to make Demi Lovato non-binary jokes returns after storming off show

Veteran shock jock Matt Siegel has uncancelled himself.

The Boston DJ returned to the airwaves a day after quitting live over being told he couldn’t joke about Demi Lovato coming out as non-binary.

The singer, 28, announced on Wednesday new pronouns of they/them as a non-binary person. It came following weeks of negative publicity over their feud with a Los Angeles ice cream shop over its “triggering” sugar-free cookies.

The comedian, who has been on air for 40 years, saw an opportunity to joke about the singer. But when told by station management he couldn’t make fun of their being non-binary, Mr Siegel stormed out with a mic drop diatribe that quickly went viral.

“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 how you might offend someone,” he said.

“Today I was anti-wokeness and I can’t do that, so basically, what I’m told is, I can talk about light, funny things … but I can’t do what I really want to do, which is just be a funny comic and tell it like it is.”

The Matty in the Morning Show Host on KISS 108 said he was the “biggest of all time” in the Massachusetts area but couldn’t say anything to offend either the right or the left of the country.

“And they said, ‘Shut up, Matt! Stop talking … Well, I hope you’re happy, because I just stopped talking. Matty out.”

Audio of the walkout posted online was heard more than 105,000 times as Mr Siegel spoke stood by the line in the sand while talking to local news outlets while his wife and station management tried to talk him down.

Shortly after walking off-air, Mr Siegel told Boston.com he was bothered about Mx Lovato’s declaration but took on the topic in a jokey way.

“What’s the point of having f*** you money if you never say f*** you? If I don’t say it now, when? When I’m dead?” Mr Siegel said, before admitting he would likely have second thoughts about the self-cancellation.

"I’m against her binary thing; I think she’s a troubled woman and a lot of young people are taking her seriously and it bothers me … But of course, it’s a comedy show, so I did it in the context of jokes."

The general manager of WXKS-FM, Alan Chartrand, told the Boston Globe that he planned to meet with Siegel in the afternoon on Wednesday in a bid to fix the spat.

"He threatens all the time in a joking kind of way. This isn’t the first time he’s threatened this would be the last show,” Mr Chartrand said.

Ultimately, it was Mr Siegel’s wife who convinced him not to end his career “over bleeping Demi Lovato” and walk away from the money.

Returning to the show on Thursday morning, Mr Siegel maintained that Mx Lovato coming out as non-binary was “ridiculous”, and that after talking to station management he had their full support and “freedom to say what I want”.

“So I won that battle,” Siegel said.