Whenever public speculation reached a fever pitch, Thompson tackled it head-on in broadcast media. His recurring appearances on The Howard Stern Show provided the clearest, most unfiltered platform for setting the record straight. Stern, known for an aggressive interviewing style that dismantles celebrity press talking points, pressed Thompson directly about his romantic choices, bedroom habits, and long-standing bachelorhood.
Thompson answered without equivocation. He explicitly confirmed his attraction to women, outlining his dating experiences and detailing the difficulties of maintaining conventional domestic partnerships while performing hundreds of dates a year. When Stern asked whether the persistent gay rumors frustrated him, Thompson took a pragmatic view, noting that anyone who steps into the public square wearing neon colors and heavy cosmetic liner should expect wild theories from strangers.
The comic noted that the rumors never bothered him on a personal level, but he found the mechanical nature of the gossip strange. He observed that audiences frequently assume an unmarried entertainer in his fifties must be concealing a secret. In Thompson's case, the reality was far more mundane: he simply preferred long-term dating arrangements over legal marriage, dedicating the bulk of his waking hours to fine-tuning his Las Vegas production.
