Radio host told to stop joking about Demi Lovato returns after walking off the air

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The host of a popular Boston morning radio show is back after he seemingly quit on the air Wednesday, in protest of being disallowed from joking about singer Demi Lovato, saying he "won that battle."

Matt Siegel of KISS 108’s "Matty in the Morning" told listeners Thursday that he had "snapped" a day earlier when told to stop poking fun at Lovato, who now identifies as non-binary and uses "they/them" pronouns. He walked off the show with nearly an hour left, leading listeners to think he'd left for good.

"Of course I talked to my wife about it and I talked with the company and the company told me that, they basically said please don’t quit. And they said that I have total support from them and freedom to say what I want. So I kind of won that battle," Seigel said Thursday, according to CBS Boston.

DEMI LOVATO COMES OUT AS NON-BINARY

Siegel said he thought Lovato's remarks about pronouns were "ridiculous" and he wanted to joke about them.

"I told jokes. That’s what we do," Siegel said. "When I was feeling on a roll, really enjoying and feeling like the old Matty on the air, that’s when I got the call to stop talking about it that’s when I just snapped and said I just can’t be here anymore."

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 22: Demi Lovato attends the OBB Premiere Event for YouTube Originals Docuseries "Demi Lovato: Dancing With The Devil" at The Beverly Hilton on March 22, 2021 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by ) (Rich Fury/Getty Images for OBB Media)

He denied accusations it was a pre-planned stunt or gag, insisting it was a genuine moment of frustration with feeling censored.

"I am the biggest of all time, and they said ‘shut up Matt! Stop talking.’ Well, I hope you’re happy because I just stopped talking. Matty out," he said Wednesday before signing off.

Lovato, 28, said this week the decision on gender comes after more than a year of "some healing and self-reflective work."

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"Over the past year-and-a-half, I've been doing some healing and self-reflective work. And through this work, I've had the revelation that I identify as non-binary," the singer said. "With that said, I'll be officially changing my pronouns to they/them."
 

Fox News' Sasha Savitsky contributed to this report.