Howard Stern responds to 1993 blackface video shared by Donald Trump Jr on Twitter

Legendary radio shock jock Howard Stern is defending himself after President Donald Trump's son drew attention to a video of him doing blackface and using the N-word in 1993.

Donald Trump Jr dredged up the footage of the perennially inflammatory radio host after Stern criticised the president's response to the coronavirus pandemic and George Floyd protests.

After Stern criticised the president's leadership, Don Jr went on the Jim & Sam Show to defend his dad and take shots at Stern.

"It's sort of disappointing," Don Jr. said. "I mean, I would think at least the sort of original Howard, I imagine most of those blue-collar people that he now hates since he became 'Hollywood Howard' would've probably been pretty big Trump supporters."

Stern fired back and claimed Don Jr rides his father's coattails and has no accomplishments of his own.

"I can't argue with him, that kid is such a success," Stern said sarcastically. "He is such a wit. He is such a genius. He would have made a fortune if he wasn't under his father's thumb. Game over. You can't argue with a genius like that."

After a few more volleys between the men, Don Jr shared footage from a pay-per-view New Year's Eve special from 1993 in which Stern wears blackface and uses the N-word.

The clip was actually compiled by filmmaker Tariq Nasheed who was using it to call Stern out for lying about his history with racial slurs during an appearance on The View. Stern said he'd never used the word.

Within the context of the clip, Stern is parodying Ted Danson's infamous blackface performance during the roast of his then-romantic partner Whoopi Goldberg. The incident occurred two months before Stern's New Year's Eve special.

"That s*** I did was f****** crazy. I'll be the first to admit. I won't go back and watch those old shows; it's like, who is that guy? But that was my shtick, that's what I did and I own it. I don't think I got embraced by Nazi groups and hate groups," Stern said after the footage resurfaced. "They seemed to think I was against them too. Everybody had a bone to pick with me."

Stern said that, given what he knows now, if he had the chance to do it again, he'd still have made fun of Danson, but he would have done it differently.

"I was able to change my approach, able to change my life and change how I communicated. If I had to do it all over again, would I lampoon Ted Danson, a white guy in blackface? Yeah, I was lampooning him and saying "I'm going to shine a light on this," Stern said. "But would I go about it the same way now? Probably not. Not probably, I wouldn't."

Stern went on to say that the president and his son needed therapy and that he was baffled that the leader of the US - amid a pandemic and widespread civil unrest - would focus any attention on him at all.

"At the same point, I will say, it f ****** distresses me that Donald Trump Jr. and Donald themselves won't go into psychotherapy and change ... Attacking me during the coronavirus and Black Lives Matter is absolutely f ****** crazy, concentrating on me. You want to concentrate on me and bully me, and expose me, with all the TV shows I've done? They're all out there. There's nothing new here. We all know. I was the craziest motherf ****** on radio.