Jerry Springer, whose tabloid talk show became a rowdy hit, dies at 79
Jerry Springer, the former Cincinnati mayor who built a tabloid talk-show empire, hosting a raucous, long-running series known for its onstage fights, profanity, occasional nudity and exploration of taboo topics like adultery and incest, died Thursday at his home in suburban Chicago. He was 79.
His longtime publicist, Linda Shafran, announced the death in a statement, which did not specify the cause.
Springer, a former lawyer, served as mayor of Cincinnati in the late 1970s before working as a network news anchor and creating “Jerry Springer,” his namesake talk show. The series premiered in 1991 and aired for 27 seasons and nearly 5,000 episodes, exerting an irresistible hold on millions of Americans even as critics dismissed it as exploitative and sensationalistic.
“Springer wears his sleaze and slime like a chest full of medals,” Los Angeles Times television critic Howard Rosenberg wrote in 1997.
Episodes bore titles like “Threesomes With Grandma” and “I Married a Horse,” which some TV stations passed on in 1998 because of its discussions of bestiality and interspecies relationships. On another episode, “Klanfrontation!,” Jewish Defense League chief Irv Rubin scuffled with white-cloaked Ku Klux Klan members.
One of Springer’s guests, Nancy Campbell-Panitz, was murdered by her ex-husband shortly after she appeared in 2000 on Springer’s show, where she was confronted by her ex and his second wife in an episode on love triangles. The show’s producers had wanted the trio to fight onstage, according to investigative records released as part of the case.
Springer distanced himself from the series at times while also trumpeting its entertainment value. “I would never watch my show,” he told Reuters in 2000.
“I’m not interested in it; it’s not aimed toward me. This is just a silly show. I don’t take it seriously. But when people argue about the show intellectually, then I’m prepared to answer about why I think it is okay to do it and why I think it’s important that shows like that are on the air.”
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The Washington Post’s Brian Murphy contributed to this report.