Rumor has it that Shock Jock Howard Stern has been tapped to replace Mr. Nasty, Simon Cowell on “American Idol”. Call us crazy, but I think they might just have something there.

It was said earlier this year that Simon would be exiting stage left to jump on the “X Factor” bandwagon, so that leaves us without a resident Idol bad guy.

An “Idol” source said, “It’s one of the few shows that could compete with Stern’s $100-million-a-year Sirius contract, and ‘Idol’ bosses think he’d be even nastier than Simon.”

Howard may not like jumping around to listen to people audition for the singing competition, though. On his radio show, he said, “I was approached by a major TV network to take over a show and leave here and do that next year — and I did turn it down… I’m not even sure if I want to be working. I’m waiting to see what happens.”

The “Idol” source added, “They know he would be great TV and would clash with the other judges such as Ellen DeGeneres and the contestants. ‘Idol’ will do what it takes to sign him.”

A source close to Howard said that “this is a ploy to make Sirius pay up and keep him on his huge contract. But if Sirius can’t pay him the money he wants, he may negotiate to film ‘Idol’ on the side.”

What do you think? Should Howard take his ball and go home to Idol?

source: Report: Howard Stern tapped to replace Simon Cowell on ‘American Idol’ – [la times]