Take the $100,000,000-a-year and run....

It looks like Howard Stern, in another desperate attempt to become relevant again, may be making up rumours about himself.

On his radio show yesterday, Stern confirmed supposed reports that Fox is interested in having him replace Simon on "American Idol", and he said he'd be up for it... for the right price.

He said, quote, "There's not a better job on the planet than judging a (expletive deleted) karaoke contest. It might be possible, we'll see. They'd have to pay me a ton of dough, because I already make a ton of dough."

Stern's current deal... which pays him roughly $100 million a year... is set to expire next January. It's unclear whether Sirius XM is interested in extending it.


Supposedly, "Idol" might be willing to match that deal... and naturally, Howard would do it if that were the case. He said, quote, "A hundred-million to judge a karaoke contest? Yeah, I think I would do that show for $100 million.

"It would be the best thing that happened to me. What a cush job: $100 million for four months. Who wouldn't take that?"

But he added, quote, "I'm not going to comment about any discussions I might or might not have had."

"American Idol" producers (not surprisingly) wouldn't comment on this, so I'm willing to bet Howard either is making all this up to get headlines, or is at least jumping on an unsubstantiated rumour and trying to get an extra 15 mintues of fame out of it.