Jerry Springer is well known as ringmaster of the single most atrocious television show ever! I don't think you could find a lot of people with half a brain who would dispute that statement. But what some people don't know is that Jerry was a prominent politician and alleged to be a huge trick—which isn't surprising given the type of guests featured on his circus of a presentation.
The reality that Jerry sees (or at least allegedly saw) escorts was divulged to me by a girl who used to work on 86th Street at a place called “RUMORS,” a busy ho house on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. While I was visiting one night to pick up an advertising payment, one of the girls mentioned that Springer had come in a few weeks before and tried to convince her to be on his show. After a half hour of pitching the idea unsuccessfully, he settled in to do the dance for the remaining 30 minutes.
Whatever…Jerry isn't the first—and he won't be the last—celebrity to pay a woman for her time. Not that big of a deal. BUT…while Jerry was the mayor of Cincinnati, a massage joint across the river in Kentucky took a bust. And among other things the police vouchered was a check written to the establishment with the signature “JERRY SPRINGER” as its issuer!
Now those of us who understand escort protocol know that to earn the right to write a check for a girl's services, you really have to be a serious recidivist—which is to say…ho's don't take no checks unless the guy is a big time regular, which clearly, Jerry was! Regardless, all's well that ends well, I guess. For the past decade and a half, Mr. Springer has had a very successful television show in that embarrassment's wake, with no signs of the run coming to an end anytime soon.
I once knew a security guard at an incall who ran afoul of the law and pled out to do 90 days upstate (drugs AND security guard indiscretions). When he returned and I saw him again, I asked the obvious: So how was jail?” And his answer was short and sweet. “Boring! All those people wanna do is watch Springer.” Kind of gives you an idea of who Jerry's core audience is.