Starting with a bit featuring Andy Cohen that got publications including the Associated Press to believe he was gone for good, Howard Stern is staying with SiriusXM.

Stern began his show this morning with a segment where Cohen stated, “I know you’re expecting a big announcement from Howard and this is not how things were meant to go. This was supposed to be a cleaner hand off.” Cohen continued, “I can’t overstate what Howard has meant to this company and what he did for SiriusXM. He walked so that we could run. I can’t possibly fill his void.”

That would lead into Stern discussing the rumors surrounding he and his show over the summer. Stern said he decided to play into all the false rumors which first started with reports that co-host Robin Quivers had died followed by him being fired from SiriusXM for being “too woke”. He said that “one of the positive things” about the rumors were that many other companies reached out with offers to pick up the show, but that he is very happy at SiriusXM.

Stern made no mention of signing a new contract with SiriusXM, but CEO Jennifer Witz commented at an investment conference last week, “I think he’s been core to our platform for over 20 years. So I’m confident we’ll get to the right place.”

The Associated Press unfortunately fell for the bit with Cohen, publishing a story and breaking news alerts that Stern was gone.