Sen. John Fetterman says the wild and chaotic scene inside a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing Thursday night, which featured lawmakers lobbing multiple appearance-related insults at one another, was worse than an episode of “The Jerry Springer Show.”
“In the past, I’ve described the U.S. House as ‘The Jerry Springer Show,'” the Pennsylvania Democrat said in a Friday post on the social platform X.
“Today, I’m apologizing to ‘The Jerry Springer Show,'” Fetterman said.
His comparison to the sensational, typically brawl and expletive-filled 1990s talk show came a day after an epic clash during Thursday night’s Oversight Committee hearing.
During the hearing, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) accused Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) of sporting “fake eyelashes.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) moved to take down Greene’s words, calling them “disgusting” and “absolutely unacceptable.”
Later in the hearing, Crockett appeared to throw a veiled jab Greene’s way, saying, “If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach blonde bad built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?”
Ocasio-Cortez struck back at Fetterman for drawing the TV slugfest parallel, saying on social media to her Democratic colleague in Congress, “I understand you likely would not have stood up for your colleague and seem to be confused about racism and misogyny being a ‘both sides’ issue.”
“But I stand up to bullies, instead of becoming one,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
It’s not the first time that a political fracas has drawn comparisons to “The Jerry Springer Show.”
Springer himself panned a 2020 presidential debate between Joe Biden and then-President Trump. During the heated showdown, Trump repeatedly attempted to interrupt the then-Democratic presidential nominee.
“Several years ago TV Guide honored me by naming ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ the worst show in the history of television,” Springer told ITK at the time. “After watching Tuesday night’s debate, the torch has now been passed.”
“The Jerry Springer Show” aired from 1991 to 2018.
Springer died last year at 79.
Updated at 11:42 a.m. EDT