Television host Jerry Springer on Friday described his own show as “an hour of escapism” with “no redeeming social value.”

“Look, my show is stupid,” he admitted during an interview with HuffPost Live host Alyona Minkovski. “It’s stupid, but it’s fun to do. I enjoy it. People obviously like it, otherwise they wouldn’t watch it.”

ADVERTISEMENT

For his show, Springer interviews guests embroiled in every sort of scandalous and bizarre drama, from those cheating on their spouses to those involved in incestuous relationships. He insisted everything on The Jerry Springer Show was real, not staged or scripted.

Springer said that by paving the way for other reality TV shows, he had become “the father of the destruction of Western civilization.”

Springer, who was briefly the mayor of Cincinnati, also addressed the topic of gun control. He said that gun rights advocates like the NRA probably believed that an assault weapons ban was reasonable, but worried it would lead to a slippery slope of gun control regulations.

“What happens with any interest group is they are always worried about the chipping away of their rights,” he explained. “So even though under a truth serum, if they were alone in a room with god and god said, ‘You gotta tell me the truth,’ they would say, ‘Well, yeah, we probably don’t need assault weapons.’ They’re worried that if you permit legislation that takes that away, then the next step, someone will come along and say, ‘Lets take this away, lets take that away.'”

Springer doubted that Republicans and Democrats could compromise on gun control laws, because they were both “scared to go against the extremes of their parties.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Watch video, courtesy of HuffPost Live, below: