8 Celebs Who Are Glad They Got Fired

Howard Stern was just too shocking for one radio station
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 12, 2013 9:15 AM CST
8 Celebs Who Are Glad They Got Fired
Jerry Seinfeld performs in 2012.   (Photo by John Shearer/Invision for David Lynch Foundation, File)

If you've ever been fired, it probably wasn't a pleasant experience—but take heart from these eight celebrities rounded up by the Week. They, too, got canned, only to move on to bigger and better things:

  • Jerry Seinfeld: He had a recurring role on Benson in the early '80s, and when he got fired from the ABC sitcom, no one even remembered to tell him. He decided then and there not to do another sitcom unless he had more control over the creative process, and the rest is history.
  • Robert Redford: Before he was an actor, he worked at Standard Oil—and was put on probation when he was found sleeping in an oil tank he was supposed to be cleaning. But when he started doing tricks with the forklift he was assigned to drive, and eventually crashed it, his time at the company came to an end. Of course, he's probably pretty pleased with the way his career turned out in the end.

  • Wilco: When the band recorded Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, its record label didn't like the sound and dropped the band. So Wilco streamed the album on its website, free—and it became a huge hit.
  • Howard Stern: The DJ was once fired from a New York station for being too offensive—how surprising! The station didn't like the "Beastiality Dial-a-Date" segment Stern did. But the shock jock's edgy schtick ended up making him a household name.
Click for the complete list, including one person who got fired with the line, "You look retarded." (More celebrity stories.)

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