Tributes to ‘millennial babysitter’ Jerry Springer pour in after he dies at 79 – live

Springer became a true American icon with his long-running chat series, The Jerry Springer Show, which ran for 28 seasons between 1991 to 2018.

He then followed the show’s success by once again putting his law degree to use in his three-season court show Judge Jerry.

The show was his own version of the popular Judge Judy, where he welcomed several people to come forward with their real cases and then afterwards he would offer his verdict in front of a TV courtroom.

In the statement from Springer’s spokesperson, it was revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.

It is unknown, however, if complications from the diagnosis led to his passing.

Following Jerry Springer’s illustrious TV career, he leaned more into radio. However, he made his final TV appearance as a contestant on The Masked Singer’s fall 2022 season.

During the top-secret singing competition, Springer was disguised as Beetle.

He was eventually eliminated in the second round along with singer and actor Kat Graham, who was dressed as Robo Girl.

At the time, he explained his decision to join the show, saying, “there’s so many serious things going on in the world [so] to be able to just do something that’s just fun and silly” was a pleasure.

One of the more memorable episodes of The Jerry Springer Show was a 1995 episode titled “A Racist Family”.

In the hour, Springer was joined by extremist August Kreis (former member of the Klu Klux Klan, neo-Nazi leader and convicted child molester) and his two daughters.

During the show, the four engaged in a tumultuous conversation about race, which led to the host accusing Kreis of “ruining” his children and telling him to “shut your face”.

Kreis and Springer nearly got into a fight on air and had to be pulled apart by security.

Following the end of The Jerry Springer Podcast in December 2022, Springer announced his new radio show, The Jerry Springer and Jene Galvin Folk Hour.

The launch date of the Cincinnati programme was only a few months ago on 5 February. Springer’s final tweet from his personal account was to promote the radio hour.

The British-born American television host was best known for his flourishing career on screen, but before he became a key part of American entertainment, he was a politician.

Springer got his start as a political campaign adviser to Democratic US Attorney General Robert F Kennedy. Following Kennedy’s assassination in 1968, Springer began practising law at a Cincinnati law firm.

In 1970, he ran for Congress but lost his bid to unseat incumbent Republican Donald J Clancy.

Years later, he went on to serve as Cincinnati’s Mayor in 1977 for one year.

Star’s death was announced by a family spokesperson