Talk show host Jerry Springer dies, aged 79

The daytime TV host whose show featured fist fights and hair pulling died at home in Chicago after a battle with cancer.

Jerry Springer celebrates the taping of "The Jerry Springer Show" 20th anniversary show in 2010. Picture: AFP.

Jerry Springer, the daytime TV host whose show featured fist fights and hair pulling, has died. He was 79.

Mr. Springer died of cancer Thursday in his Chicago-area home, a publicist said. “He’s irreplaceable and his loss hurts immensely, but memories of his intellect, heart and humour will live on,” Jene Galvin, a lifelong friend and spokesman for the family, said in a statement.

Mr. Springer, who was the mayor of Cincinnati in the 1970s, hosted “The Jerry Springer Show” for nearly 30 years. It premiered in 1991 and new episodes stopped airing in 2018.

The show was confrontational, with families exposing their feuds and cheating spouses taking each other to task. Episode titles included “Brawling Over Babes” and “Honey, I’m Leaving You.” Many of the shows led to physical fights, with the audience chanting “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” as fists flew. Security guards were often on the stage. Steve Wilkos, one of the guards who was often seen separating guests, got his own spin-off talk show.

Mr. Springer defended “The Jerry Springer Show” in interviews, saying viewers liked it and it represented a slice of life that wasn’t mainstream.

“I was hired to be a ringleader of a circus,” Mr. Springer told CNN in 1998. “I am hosting a show about outrageousness.” In his Twitter profile, he claimed the title of “ringmaster of civilisation’s end.” The show was a cultural juggernaut in the 1990s, rivalling more traditional daytime talk shows in popularity and spawning spoofs on “Saturday Night Live.” Mr. Springer told The Wall Street Journal in 2015 that he had no intention of leaving.

“I’ve let NBC know that I will be stopping when I’m 104,” he said. “As long as it’s fun and I’m healthy I’ll keep doing it. There’s no reason to stop.” Gerald Norman Springer was born on Feb. 13, 1944, during World War II, in a London Underground station serving as a bomb shelter, he has said. He moved to New York with his parents and older sister when he was 4 years old.

Mr. Springer studied political science at Tulane University and earned a law degree from Northwestern University. He briefly worked on the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in June 1968, before starting his law and political career in Cincinnati.

He served on the City Council, then became mayor of Cincinnati in 1977. He ran for governor of Ohio in 1982, but came in third in the Democratic primary. The bid launched Mr. Springer’s television career. He worked at a local NBC affiliate as a news anchor and commentator.

“The Jerry Springer Show” started out as a more politically focused show. A couple of years in, it moved to more salacious topics. The show attracted millions of viewers at its peak.

Mr. Springer was a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2006, saying that he did it to learn the waltz for his daughter’s wedding. A year later, he became host of “America’s Got Talent,” staying on for two seasons.

A year after “The Jerry Springer Show” ended, Mr. Springer donned a black robe and hosted “Judge Jerry.” New episodes of that show stopped airing last year.

Dow Jones