In 1995, daytime talk shows like Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones were at the height of their popularity thanks to using a tactic called ‘ambush television’ - getting guests on stage and shocking or embarrassing them for entertainment. There were episodes like ‘Mom, I’ve been sleeping with your boyfriend’ or ‘Remember our one night stand? WELL THIS IS YOUR BABY!’ 

One episode of Jenny Jones at the time was called ‘Guess your secret crush!’ and in it, a man called Scott Amedure admitted to his friend Jonathan Schmitz that he had a crush on him. Three days later, Scott was dead. Jonathan had murdered him, and he blamed The Jenny Jones Show.

Story starts at approx 24:05

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there’s this:

The doco episode of ‘Trial By Media’ that Rosie talked about, called ‘Talk Show Murder’ (on Netflix): https://www.netflix.com/title/80198329?s=i&trkid=13747225

Episode of ‘Criminal’ podcast about the ‘Gay Panic’ defence: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/criminal/id809264944?i=1000458839778

Some articles: https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/inside-the-jenny-jones-show-murder-25-years-later.html/

https://people.com/crime/netflix-trial-by-media-jenny-jones-murder/

This episode may have been triggering or upsetting for members of the LGBTQIA community, so please reach out if you need to. Here’s some links:

Lifeline: https://www.lifeline.org.au/
Q Life: https://qlife.org.au/
ACON: https://www.acon.org.au/
Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

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