Jerry Springer
London, UK : Jerry Springer said that he understood why thousands of Christians had protested about Jerry Springer the Opera.
"I wouldn't have written it. I don't believe in making fun of other religions or in saying things that could be insensitive to other people's religions," Springer said in an interview with the Press Association.
"You would have to talk to the people that wrote it. I don't make religious jokes so I wouldn't have done it. But it's not up to me."
When asked if the musical should have been shown on television, Springer said: "Perhaps not. I don't know why they decided to run it on the BBC, you would have to ask the BBC." He said the opera was far more offensive than his TV show.
"You know, on our TV show if people use inappropriate language we bleep it out, if there's nudity we cover it up, so that viewers at home don't get to see any of this.
"The opera is a parody of our show, it isn't our show. Whether you should put the parody on I don't know, you would have to ask the BBC what their standards are. It's not my place to say what they should do. It's not my opera, I didn't write it, I didn't produce it, I don't own it, I don't own the BBC. That's an issue you have to deal with in England." He also added, "I don't know if they should have had it on television but, good Lord, if you don't like what's on television, that's why God gave us remote controls."
Springer helped to launch the show in the West End and saw it before that when it was screened in Edinburgh. At the time, according to The Guardian, he said he was thrilled, joking he was in a fairly unique group of people to have an opera written about you before you die.
He said: "There are parts that were pretty funny, there are parts I wouldn't have written like that, but a parody is not supposed to be accurate, it's supposed to be an exaggeration to make a point. I think the music is wonderful, I think the production was excellent, I think it's witty at times. But I could see how people think it went too far."
Springer is in London to speak at a fundraising dinner organised by the United Jewish Israel Appeal.
Rabbi Shlomo Levin, of the South Hampstead Synagogue, said: "When we reach a point that a person like Jerry Springer is the speaker, it is time to stop and ask ourselves what has gone wrong. "I don't think that Jerry Springer's public persona stands for everything which is wholesome in society. He purveys things which undermine the fabric of society." He described Springer's show as "a kind of pornography" and said the charity might as well have considered a "lap dancing evening". But Springer hit back saying, "I don't know what he knows about lap dancing, it's not appropriate for a rabbi. But that's his business."
His speech to the UJIA coincides with the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
"I'm here to speak to a Jewish organisation and Judaism is very much a part of my life," he said. "I lost much of my family in the Holocaust and my parents escaped to England, which is where my sister and I were born. So I owe England a lot, my family owes England a lot. If it wasn't for England, we wouldn't be here."
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