Jerry Springer, an early leader in the tabloid talk show and unscripted television space, has reportedly died. Springer, a former mayor of Cincinnati in the 1970s, engaged in a decades-long career as a broadcaster and host up until last year.
Jerry Springer, born Gerald Norman Springer Feb. 13, 1944, in London, England. His parents resettled in America, and Springer attended public school in Queens, N.Y. ahead of attending Tulane University en route to earning a law degree from Northwestern University. Early on, Springer worked in the legal field and was a partner of a Cincinnati law firm before engaging in a career in politics.
Springer was elected to the Cincinnati City Council in 1971 and stepped down in 1974 after admitting to soliciting a prostitute. However, his admittance won over the public and he was eventually reelected. Via a now-defunct political arrangement, Springer was elected to serve one year as mayor of the city by the council and entered into a failed bid for the governor’s seat in Ohio in the early 1980s.
From politics, Springer began his career as a television journalist, working for local station WLWT in Cincinnati. The network helped Springer establish his eponymously-named show, Jerry Springer, in 1991, which ran in syndication until 2018. The program proved to be popular once it shifted into having guests confront one another onstage, often coming to blows in the process before security would break up the fracas.
In 2015, Springer started The Jerry Springer Podcast, and in 2019, he also hosted the courtroom series Judge Jerry until it was canceled in 2022.
According to a family spokesperson, Springer died with his family nearby in his Chicago home. Springer was previously diagnosed with cancer according to a statement from the family.
On Twitter, the reactions to the death of Jerry Springer have the host’s name trending. We have those replies below.
Springer was 79.
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