Update: Mike Richards has quit as host of “Jeopardy” amid his ongoing controversy.
Richards announced his departure on Friday (August 20) in a memo to the game show’s production staff.
It read in part:
[Sony Pictures Television] will now resume the search for a permanent syndicated host.
In the meantime, we will be bringing back guest hosts to continue production for the new season, details of which will be announced next week.
Read the original post below.
New “Jeopardy” host Mike Richards is under fire for degrading comments he made about women in his past.
Mike referred to the comments he made, on an old podcast that he hosted from 2013 to 2014, as “a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment.”
The podcast was called “The Randumb Show,” and it has been scrubbed from the Internet due to the backlash.
On the episode in question, Mike asks his female co-host and his assistant if they had ever taken a “nude picture,” during a segment about leaked celebrity nudes.
Listen to the audio below:
Reportedly, later in the episode, Mike asked his co-host if he could go through her phone, and when she wouldn’t share a picture with him, he asked if the picture was of “her boobies.”
Mike recently apologized for his actions on the podcast.
It is humbling to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago.
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.
Even with the passage of time, it’s more than clear that my attempts to be funny and provocative were not acceptable, and I have removed the episodes.
My responsibilities today as a father, husband, and a public personality who speaks to many people through my role on television means I have substantial and serious obligations as a role model, and I intend to live up to them.
Sony Pictures Televison, who produces Jeopardy, says that they were unaware of the podcast.
Mike was formerly the executive producer of “The Price Is Right,” and in 2010 Brandi Cochran, a model on the show, filed a lawsuit against him for discrimination and harassment she said she experienced after becoming pregnant.
According to the lawsuit, when Brandi told Mike she was pregnant, he said to her, “Go figure! I fire five girls … what are the odds?”
Brandi interpreted those words “to mean that Richards would have selected her for layoff if he had known that she was going to get pregnant.”
After she delivered her baby, she was terminated.
Mike addressed Brandi’s lawsuit in a statement prior to accepting the “Jeopardy” hosting job.
There are also allegations of female fat-shaming during Mike’s time at “The Price Is Right.”
“Jeopardy” is scheduled to start its new season on Thursday.
The ball is now in Sony Pictures Television’s hands.
Your thoughts?
Sources: The Ringer and TMZ
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