Mike Richards steps down from ‘Jeopardy!’ gig after antisemitic comments unearthed
Mike Richards By Getty Images
By PJ Grisar August 20, 2021
That was quick.
Two days after The Ringer reported on Mike Richards’ past podcast remarks, in which the newly appointed “Jeopardy!” host made offensive remarks about poor people, Haitians and Jews, Richards announced he was stepping down.
“It pains me that these past incidents and comments have cast such a shadow on ‘Jeopardy!’ as we look to start a new chapter,” Richards wrote in a statement released Friday to the staff of the show.
On several episodes of Richards’ podcast “The Randumb Show,” Richards was heard to have made some unseemly comments, asking his co-host if she had taken nude pictures of herself and, in one instance, when talk turned to big noses, said of a woman, in pig Latin, “she’s not an ew-Jay.” The Anti-Defamation League had called for an investigation into the past comments.
Richards, the executive producer for “Jeopardy!” had been a controversial choice for host even before his comments resurfaced. Mayim Bialik, who was picked to host special spinoff competitions, also generated controversy for allegations about her vaccine hesitancy (Bialik is vaccinated and vaccinated her children), remarks seen as “shaming” Harvey Weinstein’s victims and, in a Daily Beast piece, her support of the IDF. (That piece itself was controversial for calling the Israeli army the “genocidal IDF.”)
Bialik is still set to have hosting duties for the trivia show’s primetime specials. In his memo, Richards indicated that Sony would resume the “search for a permanent syndicated host. Richards will continue on in his capacity as executive producer.
In the meantime, despite all the controversy, Richards is still only the second-most problematic Michael Richards.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
