A Real judge has blasted TV’s Judge Steve Harvey for being a benchwarmer who doesn’t deliver justice for contestants or viewers!
The wisecracking 65-year-old TV personality — who does not have a law degree — rules on a variety of conflicts from small claims to big disputes on his unscripted ABC show.
“He doesn’t cite law,” protests retired judge Fanon Rucker. “The show is not based on real court procedure!”
Rucker, who sat on the Hamilton County Municipal Court bench in Cincinnati, concedes the show provides entertainment — but insists it in no way resembles how the wheels of justice turn.
“I hope people don’t look at Steve Harvey’s judge show as an actual component of the legal system,” he says. “It seems like an extension of his chat show, where he gives opinions and advice about relationships.”
Also, participants are PAID to appear in the funnyman’s court — with one casting website claiming people can make $1,000 apiece!
Rucker explains most TV judges fake it to some extent, but the cases are plucked from real life.
“Judges like Judge Judy and Judge Mathis were not active judges at the time of their shows,” he says. “They were serving as arbitrators. Producers flew people out, put them up in a hotel, and paid their judgments.”
