16. Jerry Springer Was Mayor Of Cincinnati
Jerry Springer has had many bows to his string: actor, news presenter, musician (no, really!), professional sh*t-stirrer, and, somewhat surprisingly, politician. Before finding his calling baiting families on stage, Springer had a fairly promising political career. After majoring in political science for his Bachelor of Arts, he was a campaign advisor to Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. After Kennedy was assassinated, he joined a law firm before running for Congress in 1970. In 1971 he was elected to Cincinnati city council (although resigned a few years later after hiring a prostitute). Despite this setback, Springer regained his seat a year later thanks to his honesty, and was elected mayor of Cincinnati in 1977. It wasnt until 1991 that The Jerry Springer Show debuted, and was originally a politics show about hard-hitting issues such as homelessness and gun laws. This lasted about three years before Springer and the producers turned to tabloid sensationalism to improve ratings - a plan which, obviously, worked. Interestingly, it is associations with his show (rather than, say, use of sex workers) which prevented him from running for US senate again, so we can now assume that Springers political career is not about to rise from the ashes once more.