A Mouthful: When ‘The Morton Downey Jr. Show’ Ruled the Airwaves

Oprah Winfrey gave away cars to members of her audience. Morton Downey Jr. slapped them instead. Downey—the vitriolic talk show host who briefly had one of the most controversial programs in the country—was taping a show in December 1987 when Andy Humm of the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights challenged the conservative host on his contrarian viewpoint. Humm cursed; Downey struck. Security escorted Humm from the studio. Not long after, the rest of the studio audience followed. Someone had phoned in a bomb threat. Humm would later describe the entire experience as “a hate rally.”

Decades before political pundits used YouTube and Twitter to volley insults back and forth, Downey used his syndicated program The Morton Downey Jr. Show to kick up a storm over hot-button issues like civil rights, abortion, and capital punishment. Unlike Jerry Springer, who often acted more as a referee, Downey was a combatant, shouting invective from a plume of omnipresent cigarette smoke. It was part pro wrestling, part car crash, and part circus. If an animal lover was on, Downey would strut out in a fur coat; if someone expressed anti-American sentiment, he’d drape himself in an American flag. Physical assaults were not uncommon. So many expletives flew that the heavily-bleeped shows sounded like a smoke alarm. But Downey would eventually take it a step too far…  Read more >

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