Jerry Springer, host of 'The Jerry Springer Show,' dies at 79
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • last year • 14 commentsBy: Diana Dasrath and David K. Li (NBC News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Link copied April 27, 2023, 2:37 PM UTC / Updated April 27, 2023, 3:54 PM UTC By Diana Dasrath and David K. Li
Longtime TV personality Jerry Springer, who helped pioneer the genre of confrontational daytime television, died Thursday after a bout with cancer, his representatives said.
He was 79.
The former mayor of Cincinnati, Springer died in Chicago, publicist Linda Shafran told NBC News. He died from pancreatic cancer, family spokesperson Jean Galvin added.
"The Jerry Springer Show" ran from 1991 to 2018 and was known for its profanity-prone guests who often had to be restrained by on-set security guards as audience members wildly cheered, "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!"
Talk show host Jerry Springer.Ralf-Finn Hestoft / Corbis via Getty Images file
The show's 1990s popularity made it a ratings rival of daytime polar opposite, "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and Springer had no regrets for the high-energy, low-brow material he aired on afternoon TV.
"I don't watch the show, but it's not aimed at 66-year-old men," Springer said in a 2010 interview. "If I were in college, I would watch. I enjoy doing it. It's a lot of fun."
"Springer" was such a success, that the words "Jerry Springer" became a synonym for anything outrageous or ridiculous TV.
After the infamous Will Smith slap of Chris Rock at last year's Oscars, Alec Baldwin bemoaned how the show had "turned into the Jerry Springer show."
Jerry Springer's final thoughts on his TV show: 'We're all alike'
Aug. 27, 201905:16
Gerald Norman Springer was born on Feb. 13, 1944, in a London subway station that was being used as a bomb shelter against German air raids.
His Jewish parents — Margo and Richard Springer — had fled Nazi Germany before the start of World War II.
The family moved to the United States and Springer grew up in New York City, where he graduated from Forrest Hills High School in Queens.
Springer went on to get his bachelor's degree from Tulane University and law degree from Northwestern. He joined the ill-fated campaign of Robert Kennedy in 1968 and participated in the massive anti-war protests at that year's Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
He settled in Cincinnati and soon took an active role in Queen City politics, eventually becoming mayor in a City Hall career that couldhave easily been the topic of a "Springer Show."
He won election to the city council in 1971 before resigning in 1974after admitting to using the services of prostitutes, some who he paid with checks.
The scandal didn't sink Springer and the future talk-show king's openness about the affair is largely cited for his political comeback.
He won election back to the council in 1975 and served as mayor for one year beginning in 1977. Springer then turned his attention to television, as a political reporter and anchor on WLWT, the NBC affiliate in Cincinnati.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Diana Dasrath
Diana Dasrath is entertainment producer and senior reporter for NBC News covering all platforms.
David K. Li
David K. Li is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Polly DeFrank contributed.
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His show is still on every day, but maybe they are reruns. How could you tell?
I didn't know he was German and that he was also a lawyer. I knew he was Jewish.
I caught the show a few years ago and I noticed that were no chairs on the stage....
From what I remember of the few times I watched, I don't think I would want to have anything on that stage that one of the weirdos could use as a weapon. I do remember chairs on a few of the shows though.
I think that's why they removed the chairs...bludgeoning weapons
back in the day his show was usually a goober slug fest. I really enjoyed that...
Jerry Springer was a very articulate and intelligent guy who spent most of his career slumming.
He wasn't very intelligent when he hired a prostitute from Northern Kentucky and paid her with a check, lol.
We all do stupid stuff
Wasn't he Mayor of Cincinnati for a year? and the was after he resigned when he got caught soliciting prostitutes.
he should have parlayed that into a run for national office, as a republican...
If he was a republican the hooker would have hired a dumbass democrat lawyer, who all the democrats said would have made a great president, then the democrat lawyer would have stolen the hookers money, got caught, gone to prison, and the hooker would have to pay him 500,000 dollars when she could have just kept the 50 grand which was more than she was worth.
I think he resigned due to the exposure of a personal check he had written to a prostitute.
Hookers take checks? you learn something new everyday.
Yep.