Jeopardy!

Alex Trebek was the host of Jeopardy! since 1984 until his death earlier this year. Even during his treatment for pancreatic cancer, he continued to host the show he loved. Trebek was a stand-up person who hosted the show with dignity and was beloved by millions. So, who does the show select to replace him? A racist, sexist, anti-Semitic D-bag who enjoys laughing at the homeless.

Alex Trebek hosted Jeopardy! for 37 years. His replacement, Mike Richards, lasted one day.

Jeopardy! conducted tryouts with guest hosts which included Mayim Bialik, Anderson Cooper, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Buck, Robin Roberts, Savannah Guthrie and, and fan favorite to get the gig permanently, LeVar Burton. The least known of the guest hosts is probably Mike Richards…who is an executive producer of Jeopardy! and had a hand in the selection for a new host. At the end of the search, he helped picked himself which was reminiscent of Dick Cheney picking himself after conducting a search for George W. Bush’s vice-presidential running mate.

When the rock band ZZ Top was forming and searching for their bass player, the drummer, Frank Beard, recruited a friend and former bandmate Dusty Hill to audition. Years later, he admitted he didn’t play at his best during Hill’s competitors’ auditions, but picked up the pace during Hill’s to make him look better. That actually worked out and you can say he did it in the best interest of the band. What Mike Richards did was make himself look better in the best interest for himself.

Maybe the vetting should have resembled the type of investigations that go into picking a vice-presidential candidate, because there was stuff on Richards that wasn’t even hidden. Stuff like multiple lawsuits against The Price is Right from when he was a producer for the show. He was named a co-defendant in at least one when he made disparaging comments toward one of the models after she informed him she was pregnant. Two of the lawsuits were settled out of court.

According to one lawsuit, he had laid off five models but upon being informed of the pregnancy of another, he gave the impression he would have laid her off if he had known about the pregnancy. After she gave birth, her contract was terminated.

Then, it was pointed out that Richards made a lot of offensive comments when he hosted a podcast years ago called, “The Randumb Show.” Dumb indeed. The Ringer reported that Richards had made comments on this show that were consistent with his sexist comments from his days at The Price is Right. He really hates one-piece swimming suits and said they make women look “frumpy and overweight.” He made comments about Jews and big noses which got the Anti-Defamation League host on his case. He called his female co-host a “booth slut” because she once worked as a model at a consumer show in Las Vegas (maybe keep this guy away from models). He harassed a women on the air about taking nude selfies, kept asking about her “boobies,” and demanded to go through her phone. He also made jokes about homeless people.

After The Ringer asked Sony and Richards’ agent about the comments from his podcast, every episode was removed and the hosting site for the podcast was deleted. But when you’re famous and take a crap on the internet, it’s really hard to clean it up.

Richards has only been at Jeopardy! for the past 15 months and according to reports, morale among the staff has decreased under his management. They were blindsided when Sony, the parent company of Jeopardy!, announced Richards as the new host. But his dream came true and he finally got to host a talk show…for a day.

After The Ringer’s report, he removed himself (supposedly) as host of Jeopardy! without apologizing. Now, the search for a new host will begin all over apparently, without considering the former candidates. The one episode he did host will still air because it has to keep the continuity of the contestants. It would be like removing one episode of Friends which explained how Joey and Rachel got together. Wait…maybe that explains why nobody knows how Joey and Rachel got together.

But Richards isn’t gone forever. He’s going to remain as executive producer for Jeopardy! Yeah, smart move, Sony. Richards is white and quite frankly, I think this is a another example of white privilege. If nothing else it’s another example where powerful men are protected by other powerful men. Sony is protecting him when what they should be doing is kicking his sexist hateful ass to the curb. They want to start clean with a host but not with the producer? That makes less sense than Joey and Rachel and is also ickier.

Jeopardy is famous for answers having to be given in the form of a question, so I’ll give you the honor of playing.

An executive producer who cheated the system by screwing people over, is getting away with it, but should be fired. And go…

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