Scott Amedure’s 1995 murder by fellow guest Jonathan Schmitz was a flashpoint in the era’s debate over homophobia, the effects of which are still felt today.

Maury Povich details how infamous *Jenny Jones Show *killing ‘changed everything’ for daytime TV

Scott Amedure’s 1995 murder by fellow guest Jonathan Schmitz was a flashpoint in the era’s debate over homophobia, the effects of which are still felt today.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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August 16, 2026 9:00 a.m. ET

Maury Povich and Jenny Jones in 1991. Credit:

Courtesy Everett Collection; Paul Natkin/Getty

- Maury Povich is looking back on a shocking chapter in daytime TV history: the murder of *Jenny Jones Show *guest Scott Amedure by his friend and fellow guest Jonathan Schmitz.

- Amedure, an openly gay man, told Schmitz, who is straight, about his crush on an unaired 1995 episode. Three days later, Schmitz shot Amedure to death at his home.

- “That changed everything,” Povich explained. “We had 10, 12 pages of legal documents that each guest had to sign,” as well as “an attorney that was attached to the show,” and more.

Watercooler conversation used to begin and end on daytime TV. From Oprah Winfrey and Geraldo Rivera to Ricki Lake and Maury Povich, issues running the gamut from racism to capital punishment to gun rights were confronted head-on in hotly debated segments that had real-world impacts during the golden age of talk shows.

During a recent, career-spanning conversation with * *about his new podcast, *On Par with Maury Povich*, the talk show icon said one infamous episode of a ’90s staple had more immediate and enduring consequences than any other.

“Things changed in the talk shows [with] the unfortunate killing of a guest on *Jenny Jones*,” Povich says. “That changed everything. Before that, no guest was ever approached about a subject they didn’t know they were going to be asked about.”

Jenny Jones hosting ‘The Jenny Jones Show’ in 1999.

Both Jones’ and Povich’s self-titled talk shows premiered in September 1991. They’d ascended to the top of the daytime heap from vastly different places; Jones from stand-up comedy, becoming the first female comic to win *Star Search* in 1986 and later hitting the road with Jerry Seinfeld as his opening act, and Povich from broadcast news, as an itinerant newsman at local stations and outlets across the country before landing the anchor job at *A Current Affair*.

But their shows took off in a similar direction. Jones’ first season featured episodes about “hot-tempered husbands,” children of biracial marriage, and the wives of police officers. Povich’s first season, meanwhile, featured episodes about HIV-positive couples, teen boot camps, and paternity drama. Povich and his producers would steer firmly toward more “you are the father” content, and Jones’ show upped the tabloid ante in tandem.

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Jonathan Schmitz on ‘The Jenny Jones Show’ in 1995.

Warner Bros; CourtTV

In 1995, Jones presided over one of her most controversial episodes to date. “Revealing Same Sex Secret Crush” taped that year on March 6 with an intended run date during May sweeps. The episode shone the spotlight on several openly gay singles who, per the title, revealed their secret crush to their self-described straight friends in front of Jones and her studio audience.

The episode never aired, but in copies of the footage that have been re-uploaded online, Jones can be seen goading Scott Amedure, a 32-year-old gay man, about his crush on his 24-year-old straight friend, Jonathan Schmitz.

“You think about him? You have fantasies about him?” she asks Amedure, who sits beside Donna Riley, his and Schmitz’s mutual friend. Amedure seems coy and nervous, and when Schmitz is brought out onstage and briefed on his friend’s secret crush, he acts cool.

“You lied to me,” he cheekily tells Amedure, laughing and clapping, thinking it was Riley who harbored the crush.

Privately, Schmitz was furious. Three days after the episode taped, he drove to Amedure’s home in Lake Orion, Mich., and killed him with a 12-gauge shotgun.

Scott Amedure on ‘The Jenny Jones Show’ in 1995.

Warner Bros; CourtTV

“Apparently, it was terribly embarrassing,” Povich recalls. “After the show, days after the show, one of the guys was killed. It changed the whole viewing of daytime TV.”

Povich says the killing caused the booking and production flow for his series, the uber-popular *The Maury Povich Show*, to turn on a dime.

“We had 10, 12 pages of legal documents that each guest had to sign. 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,” he explains.

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Justice moved swiftly on Schmitz. Within a few weeks, he was charged with one count of first-degree premeditated homicide and felony possession of a firearm. The trial commenced that October.

During the trial, Schmitz’ legal team utilized two strategies to argue for his innocence. First, they called on Dr. Habib Vaziri to reveal he had diagnosed Schmitz with “major affective disorder,” continually citing his volatile swings into depression. Second, they employed what’s often termed a “gay panic” defense, alleging that Schmitz’s embarrassment over being revealed as the subject of a same-sex crush was so acute that he was moved beyond reasonable control into a homicidal rage.

It didn’t hold up. The prosecution played the call Schmitz placed to 911 shortly after shooting Amedure for the jury (per *Court TV*). An emotional Schmitz could be heard telling the operator that he “just shot this guy because he put me on national TV. He played a very bad f---ing thing on me. He took me on *Jenny Jones*. I just walked in and f---ing killed him.”

Schmitz was found guilty of second-degree murder after a unanimous verdict and sentenced to 25-year minimum sentence in prison. His conviction was overturned on appeal, but he was found guilty again. His sentence was reinstated, and he served time at the Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson, Mich., until he was paroled Aug. 22, 2017.

Jenny Jones in 1991.

Paul Natkin/Getty

Jones was called to testify at that trial, rebutting the defense’s contention that the episode was a glaring example of “ambush television.” She also submitted herself to lengthy questioning at a subsequent civil trial, after Amedure’s family filed a $25 million wrongful death and negligence suit against *The Jenny Jones Show *and its parent companies, Telepictures and Warner Bros., in 1995.

That trial commenced in 1999. Jones was grilled during the trial by Geoffrey Fieger, who famously served as the defense attorney for Jack Kevorkian, and a judgment of over $29 million was ultimately awarded to the plaintiffs. Again, the judgment was contested and later overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals, which ruled that *The Jenny Jones Show* and its producers “had no duty to anticipate and prevent the act of murder committed by Schmitz.”

You can listen to season 2 of *On Par with Maury Povich*, featuring conversations with Montel Williams, Kathy Griffin, and more,* *wherever you find podcasts.

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