NEWSJerry Springer Bashes Celebrity TV Hosts For 'Already Being Famous': 'That's What Changed'
Nov. 8 2022, Published 7:00 p.m. ET
Jerry Springer rose to fame in the '90s when people would tune into his television show, and now he's weighing in on the modern day talk shows — The Kelly Clarkson Show, The Drew Barrymore Show, The View and more.
"Well, I'm not much of a television viewer other than sports and cable news, you know, real political," the former host, 78, told David Yontef on his podcast, "Behind the Velvet Rope." "I know who these people are and they have incredibly successful shows, so good for them. They're very popular."
"Now the hosts tend to be people that already famous," he noted. "You know, back in the early days it was someone that did local news, suddenly became a talk show host, including Oprah [Winfrey], so that's what's changed — now you get celebrities to host shows."
Springer dealt with a whole slew of issues on his show — from infidelity to to family drama, there was nothing that wasn't covered.
When asked if Springer felt the granddaddy of reality TV, he said, "I've ruined the culture. I just hope hell isn't that hot because I burn real easy, but no, I'm just a schlub who got lucky and there was never a thought in my mind growing up that I'd be in show business."
He continued, "I'm a lawyer. I started out being a lawyer and then working for Bobby Kennedy, and in other words, my background is political and legal. After being mayor, I was offered the job to anchor the news for the NBC affiliate in Cincinnati, and I did that for 10 years. That was kind of a crazy transition — you go from politics to reporting on news to anchoring a show. How the show happened was pure luck."
The broadcaster revealed that the company "that owned the station where I did the news-owned talk shows, so they owned Phil Donahue, Sally Jessy Raphael, etc. Phil was retiring, and so the CEO took me to lunch one day and said, 'Phil's retiring. We're starting a new talk show. You're the host,'" he recalled.
"I was assigned to it as an employee and then all of a sudden the show took off," he shared. "I wound up in show business! I don't have any particular show business talent."
