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American TV show Jeopardy! had recently announced that its executive producer Mike Richards and actress Mayim Bialik would be its new hosts. However, alarming comments previously made by Richards resurfaced online as the producer took center stage.
Richards hosted the podcast The Randumb Show between 2013 and 2014, during which he made sexist and anti-Semitic comments. This was discovered by The Ringer.
An iCloud hack became popular in 2014, where the platform exposed several female celebrities’ nude photos. Mike Richards pressurized his then co-host Beth Triffon to expose herself, asking her whether she had ever taken nude photos.
Mike Richards kept pressing Triffon to reveal personal details till she gave in and mentioned that she had taken “cute photos” of herself, to which he responded:
“Like b**bie pictures?”
Aside from forcing his co-host to reveal implicit details about herself, he also made disparaging comments about Beth Triffon’s sexuality and allegedly called her friend “fat”, adding that she should be given a “smack.”
Mike Richards’ problematic comments in 2014 led to him leaving Jeopardy!
During Mike Richards’ time at the podcast, he also carelessly made racist comments. The 46-year-old was praising “the average white-guy host.” While speaking of Ryan Seacrest, who was then hosting American Idol, he had said:
"I cheer for him to succeed because I feel like through his success, I could have some success hosting. He's actually made the world a safer place for what I like to call the 'skinny White host.' "
Mike Richards has also recently been hit with lawsuits in relation to his time spent hosting The Price is Right. One of the lawsuits allegedly called out Richards for aggressively fighting with a pregnant employee on the show, while the other lawsuit was filed by a model who claimed to be wrongfully terminated and humiliated by Mike Richards.
Mike Richards apologizes and announces his departure from the show
A New York Times writer took to Twitter announcing that Mike Richards would not be hosting Jeopardy! anymore. Richards’ statement read:
“It pains me that these past incidents and comments have cast such a shadow on Jeopardy! as we look to start a new chapter... I want to apologise to each of you for the unwanted negative attention that has come to Jeopardy! over the last few weeks and for the confusion and delays this is now causing.”
He added:
“I know I have a lot of work to do to regain your trust and confidence.”
In reference to the sexist comments he made during The Randumb Show, he said:
“Looking back now, there is no excuse, of course, for the comments I made on this podcast and I am deeply sorry. The podcast was intended to be a series of irreverent conversations between longtime friends who had a history of joking around.”
Mike Richards was replacing host Alex Trebek, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2020. Although he is stepping down from playing host, he will remain the show’s executive producer.
