Jerry Springer, the longtime daytime television host and former mayor, died Thursday at age 79, it was confirmed.
“Jerry’s ability to connect with people was at the heart of his success in everything he tried whether that was politics, broadcasting or just joking with people on the street who wanted a photo or a word,” said Jene Galvin, a family spokesperson, in a statement to news outlets. “He’s irreplaceable and his loss hurts immensely, but memories of his intellect, heart and humor will live on.”
Springer died peacefully at home in suburban Chicago after a brief illness, the statement said, according to The Associated Press. The former talk show host was reportedly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer several months ago.
At its peak, “The Jerry Springer Show” was a ratings powerhouse and a U.S. cultural pariah, synonymous with what was described as “trash television” shows that frequently aired in the 1990s and early 2000s. Known for chair-throwing and bleep-filled arguments, the daytime talk show at one point topped Oprah Winfrey’s show during its lengthy run.
While Springer called it “escapist entertainment,” others saw the show as contributing to a decline in American social values and a dumbing-down of the population.
At one point years ago, Springer said he doesn’t mind being called the “grandfather of trash TV,” telling CNN in 2010: “It’s probably accurate. I don’t know what the award for that is, but I think it is true that we were probably one of the first shows to present some of the outrageousness we have.”
“I think [the show is] silly, crazy, and has no redeeming social value other than an hour of escapism,” he also said in 2010. “There is never anything on our show that hasn’t been on the front pages of newspapers in America. The only difference is that the people on my show aren’t famous.”
On his Twitter profile, Springer jokingly declared himself as a “Talk show host, ringmaster of civilization’s end.” He also often had told people, tongue in cheek, that his wish for them was “may you never be on my show.”
Over the years, Springer has suggested that his show is merely a mirror of the decline in America’s social fabric. And he also asserted that the people on his show volunteered to be subjected to whatever ridicule or humiliation awaited them.
“Look, television does not and must not create values, it’s merely a picture of all that’s out there—the good, the bad, the ugly,” Springer said in an interview years ago, adding: “Believe this: The politicians and companies that seek to control what each of us may watch are a far greater danger to America and our treasured freedom than any of our guests ever were or could be.”
Gerald Norman Springer was born on Feb. 13, 1944, in a London underground railway station being used as a bomb shelter. His parents, Richard and Margot, were Jews from German who fled to England before they arrived in the United States when their son was 5 and settled in the Queens borough of New York City.
He studied political science at Tulane University and got a law degree from Northwestern University. He was active in politics much of his adult life, eventually becoming the Democrat mayor of Cincinnati in the late 1970s.
But it was television where Springer made a national name for himself, starting in the early 1993s. After he started hosting a talk show in 1991 with a traditional format, several years later, it would devolve to become the program that long generated controversy and criticism.
Other than his daytime talk show, Springer competed “Dancing with the Stars,” and appeared in the film “Ringmaster.”
“With all the joking I do with the show, I’m fully aware and thank God every day that my life has taken this incredible turn because of this silly show,” Springer told the Cincinnati Enquirer in 2011.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
