Known for his controversial broadcasts peppered with swear words, vulgarities and physical altercations, the famous host died peacefully this Thursday, April 27 in Chicago, at the age of 79, after ” a short illnesse, “said the people site TMZ, citing a family source.
The world of American television is in mourning. As reported by the people site TMZ, Jerry Springer would have died of pancreatic cancer, diagnosed a few months ago. ” Jerry’s ability to connect with people was central to his success in everything he did, commented Jene Galvin, a spokesperson for the family and friend of the host, in a press release quoted by CBS. He is irreplaceable and his loss is the source of immense pain, but the memories of his intelligence, his heart and his humor will live on forever. »
Born in 1944 to German Jewish immigrant parents in the London Underground, which was then used as an air raid shelter, Jerry Springer ran unsuccessfully for the United States Congress in 1970 before being elected in 1977 mayor of Cincinnati in the State of Ohio, in the northeastern United States. He ruled this city for a year.
The symbol of “Trash TV”
If the host was also known, it is in particular thanks to the success of his show with “ The Jerry Springer Show “, launched in September 1991 and has since become cult. Often described as highly touted, the show, which has become a symbol of “ trash tv (trash TV) was originally a classic talk show, focusing on social issues and American political life. Jerry Springer was on the job in a relatively polished style. After a few years to improve audiences, he had radically changed the tone of his program, switching to the quest for the spectacular at all costs.
In the majority of episodes, guests came to talk about their couple or family problems, to expose adultery, deceit and baseness. Guided by the care of the presenter, the discussion regularly ended in tussles, the protagonists being held back, only occasionally, by security agents. White-hot, the public reacted instantly, and often ended up chanting ” Jerry! Jerry! », euphoric.
At the end of the 1990s, the show had the highest daytime ratings, ahead of ” Oprah », the essential talk show of presenter Oprah Winfrey. Its popularity was fueled by a few episodes that had become benchmarks, such as a fight between prostitutes and their pimps or between members of the Ku Klux Klan and representatives of the Jewish Defense League, described as ” terrorist group by the FBI.
The Jerry Springer Show marked Anglo-Saxon popular culture so much that it inspired a musical, ” Jerry Springer: The Opera “, played successfully in London, especially from 2003. The show has not been talked about as much since the beginning of the 2010s, but was still broadcast daily on almost all of the American territory until its final cessation. in 2018.
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(With AFP)