The ‘Jenny Jones’ Episode That Sparked a Murder Never Officially Aired on TV
The most infamous episode in talk show history never officially aired on TV.
On March 6, 1995, The Jenny Jones Show taped an episode titled “Revealing Same-Sex Secret Crush,” which was scheduled to air during the May sweeps. The guests included Scott Amedure and Jonathan Schmitz. In the episode, Amedure, a gay man, confessed his romantic feelings to Schmitz. Three days after the taping, Schmitz murdered Amedure. Schmitz was eventually found guilty and sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison; he was paroled in 2017.
Controversial ‘Jenny Jones’ episode was shown to jurors during civil trial
The tragic murder made national headlines and changed the talk show business forever. But the episode itself was never officially broadcast. Jenny Jones producers quickly mothballed the footage after Amedure’s death. But it did eventually see the light of day in court.
In 1995, Amedure’s family sued The Jenny Jones Show, arguing that the show’s producers were negligent and should have known that their ambush tactics could have led to violence. The 1999 trial was broadcast by Court TV. During the proceedings, jurors – and viewers watching at home – saw the episode in question. (You can still watch the whole trial on the Court TV website.)
Jurors ultimately found the show liable and awarded Amedure’s family $25 million in damages. However, that judgment was overturned on appeal.
Despite the bad press that Amedure’s murder generated, The Jenny Jones Show actually survived the incident. It continued to air in syndication until 2003. Jones even claimed that the tragedy hadn’t led to any changes at the show.
“We don’t do anything differently,” she said during a 1997 appearance on Dateline (via The New York Daily News). “Because we don’t feel there was anything to change. We do the same kind of show. . . . We haven’t changed a thing.”
Maury Povich says ‘Jenny Jones Show’ murder ‘changed the whole viewing of daytime TV’
Jones might have claimed it was business as usual in her studio, but other talk shows were switching things up in response.
“Things changed in the talk shows [with] the unfortunate killing of a guest on Jenny Jones,” veteran talk show host Maury Povich recently told Entertainment Weekly. “That changed everything.”
“Apparently, it was terribly embarrassing [for Schmitz],” Povich said of the crush reveal gone wrong. “After the show, days after the show, one of the guys was killed. It changed the whole viewing of daytime TV.”
Immediately after Amedure’s murder, the booking process for The Maury Povich Show changed, Povich said.
“We had 10, 12 pages of legal documents that each guest had to sign,” he explained. “We had to make sure that there were never questions that were going to be asked that they weren’t prepared for. And every single show, all of a sudden, had an attorney that was attached to the show.”
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