By Angus Frame
Lying to American talk show host Jerry Springer on national television is making a Ryerson student famous, but it could also land her in legal hot water.
Third-year Radio and Television Arts student Suzanne Muir appeared on the Jerry Springer Show last Tuesday under a fake name. But the deception didn’t stop with an identity change.
Viewers of Springer’s Feb. 7 show saw Muir pretending to be a wife who just learned that her husband had slept with their former baby-sitter. The husband confessed his sin and Muir burst into tears.
Host Springer heightened the drama by bringing out the baby-sitter, and the love triangle turned into a square when the baby-sitter’s current boyfriend appeared.
As Springer drooled over the predicament, he didn’t realize the fighting foursome were actually friends and fellow comedians from Hamilton’s Steel City Lingerie comedy troupe, who made the whole story up to appear on T.V.
Muir said she went through with the scam to make a point about the inhumanity of talk shows and the exploitation of suffering that goes on to attract viewers.
“We weren’t trying to hurt anybody, we were just trying to show how ridiculous these shows really are,” she said. “It was just a joke.”
Muir never intended for her joke to be made public, but a Toronto Star writer saw the show and recognized the comedians from local clubs. A Tuesday Star article followed, and two Chicago papers jumped on the story. “It’s almost too much,” Muir said, on being hounded by the media ever since their scam was exposed. “I was on the cover of the Chicago Tribune and the Sun Times. It was my birthday a couple days ago and a bunch of media crews showed up. The whole thing has made me so tired.”
Muir’s exhaustion is not the only thing troubling her, as a lawsuit by Springer’s show looms on the horizon. The four friends enlisted the aid of a lawyer to deal with the legal problems and have been offered free legal aid by the Chicago media. Despite facing Springer’s lawsuit, Muir isn’t overly concerned.
“The lawsuit threat could be just smoke and mirrors. Springer’s show gets more publicity this way, just in time for sweeps week,” she said. “Even if he does sue us, the Chicago press will eat Springer’s show alive.”
Muir adds that being a student doesn’t exactly make her prime lawsuit material. “What’s he going to do…repossess our used couch?” she asks. “I mean I’m a university student, I have no money.”
Leave a Reply