The long-running talk show “Laura” will come to an end on Dec. 31 after five years on Televisa, the network announced.
In a statement released Monday, Televisa said a new show is in the works with the same controversial host, Laura Bozzo, who recently signed an extension to her exclusivity contract with the Mexican network.
"This pause in the production of ‘Laura’ comes at the express request of Laura Bozzo who, aware of the evolving ways of TV production and the change in the audience’s habits, asked Televisa to authorize her to undertake this new challenge and reinvent the show’s concept,” Televisa’s statement read in Spanish.
A Peruvian private lawyer, Bozzo became a local celebrity in the late 90s with a TV show that many compare to Jerry Springer’s for its loud style and the stark manner issues are discussed – often ending in physical fights.
After the cancellation was made public, Bozzo said in a radio interview she had no intention of leaving Televisa - the largest Latin American channel - anytime soon.
"I'll be in Televisa until the last day of my life,” she said, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais. “They are going to have to pull me out from that channel. My thing with Televisa is like a marriage by the church: until death do us part,” she said.
Televisa is denying its decision to reinvent “Laura” has anything to do with recent allegations of violation of human rights of children by the Peruvian host.
A month ago, Mexico’s Interior Ministry opened an investigation into the content of the show at the request of lawmaker Angelica de la Peña Gómez, who complained “Laura” violates the right to privacy of minors, who are denigrated and re-victimized, all the while showing their faces on broadcast television.
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