Oprah Winfreygave away railcar to members of her consultation . Morton Downey Jr.slappedthem alternatively .
Downey — the vitriolic lecture 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 buttoned-down host on his contrarian vantage point . Humm cursed ; Downey struck . Security escort Humm from the studio apartment .
Not long after , the relief of the studio interview followed . Someone had call in a bomb threat . Humm would later describe the entire experience as “ a hatred rally . ”
X before political pundits used YouTube and Twitter to volley abuse back and forth , Downey used his syndicated programThe Morton Downey Jr. Showto kick up a violent storm over hot - button issues like polite rights , abortion , and capital punishment . UnlikeJerry Springer , who often act more as a referee , Downey was a battler , shouting invective from a plume of omnipresent cigarette smoke . It was part pro wrestle , part gondola clank , and part circus .
If an creature devotee was on , Downey would swagger out in a pelt coat ; if someone expressed anti - American thought , he ’d cloak himself in an American flag . strong-arm ravishment were not uncommon . So many expletives flew that the heavily - bleeped shows sound like a smoke alarm clock . But Downey would eventually take it a step too far .
Zip It, Fathead
Downey ’s onscreen persona did n’t quite square with his upbringing . BornDecember 9 , 1932 as Sean Morton Downey Jr. , Downey ’s father was an Irish strain ; his female parent Barbara was an actress and Isaac Merrit Singer . Their success facilitate a bounteous upbringing for Downey : The family once livednearthe Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port , Massachusetts , where the familiesbefriendedone another .
After advert New York University , Downey went into broadcasting , work as a disc jockey . He also aided in human-centred movement , work to relieve pitiful aliveness condition in Nigeria . Those efforts resulted in his being knight by Pope Paul VI . None of it seemed to portend the instigative gadget he would become .
In the eighties , Downey returned to broadcasting , first for a series of local radio Stations of the Cross . It was here Downey firstdiscovered — or revealed — his intolerance for fight down views . In 1983 , he allegedly essay to plug miscarriage rights advocate Bill Baird while live on line . More jobs and more ignition follow .
“ I bed I have a spark that sometimes ignites my brain before the electrical fuse of my natural language has had the opportunity to go out , ” he oncesaid . “ But that happen to me in regular life , too . ”
In 1987 , Downeybeganworking for WWOR television found in Secaucus , New Jersey . ToBob Pittman , a carbon monoxide - Maker of MTV and founding father of output company Quantum Media , Downey appear to be a fit for his estimate of a fiery talk of the town format reminiscent of Joe Pyne , an wild server who hosted a show in the 1960s . Downey would assume the role of a brand who verbally hassle guests over topics that were trusted to divide both his studio apartment audience and goggle box viewers ; the first installment examined the moral framework of porn stars .
For Downey , antagonizing guests was strategic . In making them misplace their humour , he said , he could get “ the real story … I know they ’ll say things just like I will , that they do n’t intend to say . ”
After a fable onscreen advised “ maternal discretion , ” Downey would come into the studio apartment from offstage like a gladiator issue from the locker , with a cameraman filming his entry . The audience , primed for Downey ’s specific brand of confrontation , would begin to gripe . Some would challenge guests from a soapbox rear between the bleachers . If a subject could divide them , Downey would track it . Atheism ; slasher movies ; gun ascendency ; child beauty pageant . A metal detector wasset upat the entrance to the studio apartment , to see to it that anyone who became too inflamed did n’t take their choler too far .
“ The audience is a lot like that at a hockey game game , ” Brian Bedol , the executive producer of the show , toldThe New York Timesin 1987 . “ Half occur for the issues , and one-half come for the fights . It ’s about passion and human emotion on TV . ”
By May 1988 , Downey ’s “ passionateness ” had aroused enough interest toearna internal syndication mass in what was a then - strange offering : Stations could take on the show for a 15 - workweek test menstruum , with no further dedication if they found it too controversial . That led to even more attention give to his marque of seismic disturbance idiot box and whether it reflect an increasing hostility brewing in society .
“ One of the tradition I would locate Downey in is the new rashness , the new vehemence in public life history , ” Todd Gitlin , a prof of sociology and theatre director of the mass communications course of study at the University of California at Berkeley , told theTimes . “ It ’s the decline of civil spirit we ’re talking about . The mental home that citizenry trusted to carry out battle in a well-mannered mode are no longer doing their job . So it ’s time to go to the schoolyard and get out the switchblades . ”
Downey finally took his switchblade act out ontour , crossing the country with his live show . In Miami , fans were devout , hollo “ Mort ! ” and whipping themselves into a frenzy before Downey led them in a kind of petition : “ OK , everybody , because the pablum - sick bounteous jam is going to try and make us all out to be a bunch of foaming - at - the - sassing hatemonger , let ’s show ’em , permit ’s everybody grab hands , that ’s correct , now raise ’em over your capitulum and OK everybody let ’s talk together , let ’s sing ‘ God Bless America . ’ ”
Crying Wolf
A serial of upshot led to Downey ’s rapid exit from cultural relevancy . First , hedevotedseveral read to the case of Tawana Brawley , a smutty teenager who aver she had been assaulted by six bloodless gentleman’s gentleman . The story was later on deemed false by a grand panel , which impacted Downey ’s already - wobbly believability .
The second incident was Downey himself claiming to have been dishonor by snowy supremacist in an airport lavatory . The attacker , Downey enjoin , sat on him and skip off some of his hair’s-breadth before using a pen to draw a hatred symbol on his os frontale . Suspicion that Downeyfabricatedthe news report for publicity arose when it was pointed out the Hakenkreuz drawn on his face was backward ; airport officials had no knowledge of the incident anddeniedit ever took place .
It was of little usance . Amid declining ratings and dwindle advertiser support , The Morton Downey Jr. Showwascanceledin July 1989 .
Despite several attempts at a return , Downey ’s clip had passed . He died in 2001 at age 67 after battle lung malignant neoplastic disease , aconsequenceof his ceaseless smoke use both on and off - atmosphere .
Today , some breaker point to Downey as the precursor to the in high spirits - volume performative savant of societal medium and overseas telegram television . Whether he believed wholeheartedly in his persona or whether he just gratify has never been fully resolved . “ What you see , ” Downey once say , likely through a cloud of cigarette smoke , “ is what you get . ”
