The Quad

Issue date: 2/25/08 Section: News

On Wednesday, Feb. 20 Jerry Springer came back to school.

Springer, on his fifth leg of a nine-part "Back to School" tour, made a stop in West Chester to host the Contemporary Issues event: "Culture of reality television and the truth behind the Jerry Springer Show" in front of a full crowd at Asplundh Concert Hall.

The Jerry Springer Show started in 1991 as a general, carbon-copy talk show, but took brash and nonmainstream subjects and cast them into the public eye.

The crowd, some of which were waiting outside the concert hall hours before the program, began the "Jerry" chant when he walked out on stage. The crowd got a dose of truth, reality and politics from Springer.

Springer's boldest claim of the evening were his feelings toward the 2008 election and universal healthcare.

"Hold any of the three candidates accountable for [a] national defense of healthcare," Springer said. "Ninety-nine point nine percent of us will leave this Earth because of a disease or accident."

Springer also claimed that it was imperative to insure the 40 million Americans who do not have healthcare in order to drive down costs for all Americans. He continued stating that healthcare should be the government's responsibility, praising Canadian and European systems.

The majority of Springer's discussion focused on facts and philosophies behind his reality, talk show.

Moderator Matt Lombardo presented Springer with a WCU sweatshirt, which he jokingly vowed to wear on his next show of transvestites.

This was one of the many comments and jokes that Springer used to poke fun at his show's seriousness and get the crowd relaxed.

However, behind Springer's jokes and witty comments, he offered serious points relating to the major issues in society today.

"The more we can expose [issues] the better," Springer said before the event.

Throughout the program, Springer used a sampling of clips from his talk show to discuss issues like race, sexuality and American culture change.

Springer's first season of shows started as "typical talk shows," but after what Springer described as a fight on a difficult show on racism, the concept changed toward entertainment.

"Until then, it was unheard of to have a fight on a talk show," Springer stated. Especially, as Springer claims, since all other talk shows tried to mimic the Oprah Winfrey Show's philosophy.

Homosexuality made its lasting mark on the Jerry Springer show in 1992 when two men kissed on air.

Continued...

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