John Edward McGee Jr. (born October 19, 1969) is an American television personality, writer and self-proclaimed psychic medium.
Edward (born in Glen Cove, New York) is the only son of an Irish-American police officer and an Italian-American working mother.
"[4] Later, Edward worked as a phlebotomist while pursuing a degree in health care administration at Long Island University.
His related appearance on Larry King Live later in the year prompted enough phone calls to overload the show's switchboard.
[8] Readings in Crossing Over involve Edward questioning audience members with what is presented as information being supposedly "communicated" by deceased friends and relatives.
Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Edward began filming at least one special in which he met with some relatives of the victims, with the intention of communicating with those who were killed.
The trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable sent a story, "'Psychic' Plans WTC Victims Show", on the daily subscription-fax sent to news media and TV station executives on October 25, 2001.
Both the Sci Fi Channel and the Crossing Over with John Edward production office were flooded with phone calls and e-mails, some expressing outrage at the exploitation of the national tragedy, others at what they perceived as extreme tastelessness in search of ratings.
[14] In response to the announcement of his 2019 Australian tour, The Sydney Morning Herald published an article by Peter FitzSimons which called Edward a fraud.
Oliver said "...when psychic abilities are presented as authentic, it emboldens a vast underworld of unscrupulous vultures, more than happy to make money by offering an open line to the afterlife, as well as many other bullshit services.
The adult animated TV series South Park featured Edward in the episode "The Biggest Douche in the Universe".
[31] The series' co-creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, credit James Randi for Stan's explanation of cold reading.