United Kingdom, May 1 -- Howard Stern has branded his former assistant's claims as a "thinly veiled attempted shakedown".

The 72-year-old shock jock has responded to claims of a hostile work environment made by his former employee Leslie Kuhn, who filed a lawsuit against Howard and his wife Beth Stern on April 5.

As reported by PEOPLE, attorneys for the couple filed a motion this week to dismiss the suit, in which they described Kuhn's complaint as a "thinly veiled attempted shakedown", and "a plan to extract a staggering 'hush-money' payment".

In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, his attorney said: "We are not going to play this out in public.

"The Sterns are entitled to enforce nondisclosure agreements signed by employees who ent...