Followers have shared their outage that Jeopardy! govt producer Mike Richards is being thought of as the brand new host – regardless of his murky previous of harassment and discrimination allegations.
Richards, 46, has served because the present’s govt producer for since 2020, and was among the many present’s rotating solid of visitor hosts after longtime ‘Jeopardy!’ king Alex Trebek died in November after a long-fought battle with pancreatic most cancers. He was 80 years previous.
In line with Variety, which broke the information that Richards’ is the front-runner for the internet hosting gig, Sony Footage Tv executives had been impressed by his ‘command of the fast-paced sport and simple on-air method’ when he visitor hosted in late February.
However followers, who’ve been backing Star Trek star LeVar Burton as the following host, had been livid with the selection – with many mentioning Richards involvement in two harassment lawsuits, introduced by two former fashions at The Value is Proper whereas he was a producer there.
Brandi Cochran sued his firm, FremantleMedia North America and The Value is Proper Productions in 2010 over claims producers sidelined and harassed her after she grew to become pregnant.
Mike Richards, who works as the chief producer of Jeopardy!, is reportedly in talks to turn out to be the present’s subsequent host
Richards was not named as a defendant within the lawsuit, however Cochran alleged in it that he stopped speaking to her as a lot after she grew to become pregnant and implied that she would have been fired had the being pregnant not been a secret.
She claimed she was pressured to announce her being pregnant on air, and when she mentioned she was carrying twins, she was given much less work and was subjected to jokes about her weight acquire from her co-workers.
Cochran revealed within the lawsuit that one in every of her twins died in a miscarriage, whereas the opposite was born three months untimely.
She claimed she was nonetheless pressured about work after giving beginning and felt pressured to lose the burden so she might return to her job, solely to find that she had been deleted from the present’s web site.
Many posted on Twitter that Burton ought to have been named the brand new host, with a number of joking that the chief producer named himself the host
Cochran was initially awarded greater than $8 million in compensatory and punitive damages, which was later overturned, as she settled with the corporate.
Lanishia Cole, in the meantime, sued Richards and fellow producer Adam Sandler – not the actor – in addition to FremantleMedia North America in 2011, for wrongful termination and sexual harassment.
She alleged that the producers berated her in entrance of her friends, and claimed Richards started ignoring her and favoring one other mannequin he was in a relationship with in 2009.
Cole claimed Richards hindered her modeling profession by creating insurance policies ‘which by no means earlier than existed,’ in keeping with the Los Angeles Times.
‘This case is about senior-level males within the leisure business exploiting energy and management over girls by bullying and harassing feminine expertise,’ Cole advised the Occasions.
The lawsuit was settled in 2013, and Richards, who denied any wrongdoing, was dismissed as a defendant earlier than the settlement was reached.
‘While you google this man and the very first thing arising is the sexual harassment lawsuit a Black lady filed towards him on one other present,’ Denny the Villain tweeted, with one other writing: ‘I remembered when Mike Richards received sued for sexual harassment. Now he will get to host Jeopardy. #NoWords’
The choice on the brand new Jeopardy! host isn’t but closing and discussions with different potential hosts are nonetheless ongoing, an unnamed supply conversant in the negotiations reportedly advised the outlet, however Richards is broadly thought of to be the front-runner.
Now, many on Twitter are questioning who Mike Richards is and why Burton did not appear to make the lower, whereas others have joked that Richards appointed himself the host as govt producer.
The followers don’t appear to approve of the executives’ alternative, with many writing on Twitter that the function ought to have gone to former ‘Studying Rainbow’ host LeVar Burton as a substitute.
One particular person replied to the information saying Jeopardy followers have been saying for months they needed Burton to be the brand new host, as executives mentioned they’d attempt a number of totally different visitor hosts and see which one the viewers responded to, however determined to go together with Richards as a substitute.
If Richards does get the function, it might imply he beat out fan-favorite LeVar Burton and former contestant Ken Jennings
Longtime host Alex Trebek died on the age of 80 in November after a long-fought battle with pancreatic most cancers
Jennings, proper, took a job as a consulting producer on the present earlier than Trebek’s dying
Burton, 64, was thought of a fan-favorite visitor host, whereas many assumed former contestant Ken Jennings, 47, can be take the helm, since he had been promoted to a consulting producer for the collection earlier than Trebek’s passing.
Different visitor hosts included ‘Large Bang Principle’ star Mayim Bialik, journalist Robin Roberts and NFL quarterback Aaron Rogers.
Burton was the final visitor host of the present earlier than it went on break for the summer season, after a Change.org petition garnered hundreds of signatures for Burton to be the following visitor host.
‘Between internet hosting 21 seasons of the academic Studying Rainbow, taking part in the brainiac engineer Geordi La Gorge on Star Trek: The Subsequent Era and filling the roll of Kunta Kinte within the ever essential miniseries Roots, LeVar Burton has impressed and formed the minds of a number of generations of trivia-loving nerds,’ it reads.
After his stint internet hosting, Burton was ranked the third favourite in an internet ballot of the perfect visitor hosts, in keeping with the New York Post, garnering 10 p.c of the 1,003 votes solid.
Jennings, who made historical past because the present’s highest-winning contestant with $2.52 million in common gameplay winnings, got here in first within the ballot, profitable greater than 20 p.c of the vote.
Richards, in the meantime, got here in second, gaining 14 p.c of the nominations.
LeVar Burton took to Twitter following the information to graciously concede
Richards joined the ‘Jeopardy!’ staff final yr as an govt producer.
He’s a local of Burbanks, California, and whereas nonetheless a scholar at Pepperdine College in Miami, he wrote, produced and hosted a weekly late evening comedy speak present known as ‘The Randumb Present,’ which gained a number of school broadcasting awards.
In 2018, he wrote on Instagram, ‘Twenty-one years in the past (virtually to the day) I began at this historic stage with footage of my TV heroes on it and I interviewed to be on The Tonight Present with Jay Leno.
‘I received the internship, which became a manufacturing assistant job, which led to the place am now.
‘My dream was to work wherever in TV … my acknowledged aim was to govt produce and host a present I created.
‘I simply shot a pilot presentation I co-created subsequent door to this stage. I received to host it and was the chief producer.
‘I used to be so hungry to be a part of all of this again then, and the extra I get to do it, the hungrier I get,’ he wrote. ‘I imply that actually and figuratively, as I’m prepared for lunch on this image.’
In 2007, Richards was thought of for host of The Value is Proper, which in the end went to Drew Carey, however he joined the present as a co-executive producer.
He additionally had a manufacturing function in Let’s Make a Deal, and hosted the Ashton Kutcher-produced actuality present ‘Magnificence and the Geek’ in addition to the Reelz Channel leisure information outlet ‘Dailies.’
In 2012, he hosted a reboot of ‘The $100,000 Pyramid,’ merely known as ‘The Pyramid’ on the Recreation Present Community, and hosted ‘Divided’ on the channel from 2016 to 2017 as nicely.
Extra lately, Richards govt produced the movie star version of Who Desires to be a Millionaire with host Jimmy Kimmel, and in 2020 he succeeded Harry Friedman as the chief producer of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.
He has now produced greater than 4,000 hours of sport reveals and was nominated for 17 Emmy Awards, profitable three for The Value is Proper.
Richards has but to publicly touch upon the studies that he’s the frontrunner to be the brand new host, however following the information, Burton took to Twitter to graciously concede.
‘The outpouring of affection and assist from household, mates and followers alike has been unimaginable,’ he wrote. ‘If love is the last word blessing, and I consider it’s, I’m really blessed past measure.’
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