Longtime TV personality Jerry Springer, who helped pioneer the genre of confrontational daytime television, died on Thursday, his representative said.
He was 79.
The former mayor of Cincinnati, Springer died in Chicago, publicist Linda Shafran told NBC News. The cause of Springer’s death was not immediately disclosed.
“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!”
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.”
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Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
