Howard Stern Calls 'American Idol' Judges 'Selfish'

On Monday, America will gets its first taste of controversial radio personality Howard Stern as he joins the judging panel on "America's Got Talent," and on the "Today" show Thursday morning (May 10), Stern promised to bring something to the table he says is missing from other reality competitions: actual criticism.

The Sirius radio superstar even cited "American Idol" judges Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez as particular offenders.

"I think what you'll find is that we have a panel that unlike these other judging shows, you know, I watch 'American Idol' sometimes, and those three judges, they don't have a word of criticism," Stern told Matt Lauer. "And I think that's selfish. I think you owe it to the contestants to offer criticism."

Stern went on to say that while he intends to be compassionate and constructive in his criticism, he will also be honest. "I'm an honest judge and that's what I think America needs. No more of this kind of 'Oh, everyone's wonderful,' " Stern continued. "Everyone can't be wonderful. It's a talent competition, and what I'm going to offer the contestants is a way to win the competition."

It will be interesting to see how the public reacts to Stern's judging style. Recently, controversy broke out on "The Voice" when judge Christina Aguilera was criticized by fellow panelist Adam Levine and a contestant, Tony Lucca, for being overly critical. Her pointed criticism of Lucca — specifically that he was a one-dimensional performer — drew the ire of Levine and Lucca, who seemed to imply that she had a personal vendetta against the guitar-slinging singer-songwriter.

We'll have to wait and see whether Stern will be forced to apologize for taking a tough stance on a contestant, as Aguilera did.

Do you think Howard Stern will make a good judge on "America's Got Talent"? Leave your comment below!