Just over two and a half years after he was quickly fired as host of Danger!Mike Richards reflects on the situation.
In August 2021, Richards was announced as the new host of Danger! after the death of Alex Trebek. However, he quickly resigned from the position after offensive comments he made on a podcast years earlier resurfaced. He issued a statement about his departure.
“It pains me that these past incidents and comments have cast such a shadow over Jeopardy!” Mike Richards stated in a letter. “As we look to begin a new chapter. As I mentioned last week, I was deeply honored to be asked to host the syndicated show and was excited by the opportunity to expand my role.”
“However, in recent days it has become clear that moving forward as host would be a huge distraction for our fans and would not be the right decision for the show. Therefore, I will be stepping down as host with immediate effect. As a result, we will be canceling production today.”
During a recent interview with PEOPLE, Richards talked about what led him to land the hosting role in the first place.
“We never discussed replacing Alex once we found out he was sick,” Richards said of the search for a new host for the long-running game show. “A conversation like that would have been very disrespectful.”
Mike Richards later said that he and the Danger! The team had talked about having people come and host guests if Trebek got too sick. “But we always knew Alex would come back until the day he decided he couldn’t.”
Mike Richards was selected to host ‘Jeopardy!’ After a series of guest hosts
After Alex Trebek passed away in October 2020, Mike Richards said the Danger! The executives decided to try guest hosts. However, they knew they couldn’t replace Trebek overnight.
“Actually, I thought we should name a new host,” Richards continued. “But when Alex passed away, it was hard for everyone. Danger! The fans, the country… there was a whole team of people where he was the only boss they had ever known.”
After a series of guest hosts, Mike Richards was selected to take over for Trebek. Danger! homework. “No one was more surprised than me,” Richards admitted. “They said, ‘We’d like you to host the syndicated version of Jeopardy!’”
“I paused and said, ‘Oh, wow. Thank you. What is the media plan? Because I was very concerned that this was going to be scrutinized as closely as a presidential election. “There was a widespread belief that whoever got the job first wouldn’t get it.”
Richards then shared that everyone was so upset because they thought he just cast himself in the role. “And that’s not what happens on television, but I understood that those were appearances.”
Mike Richards hosted one day before being investigated
Richards said he hosted a day before the Anti-Defamation League was called in to conduct an investigation into him. After word spread about his past comments and an investigation was conducted, Richards resigned.
“We can disagree about politics, we can disagree about who organizes Danger!,” he said. “We can disagree that we like a final Jeopardy! key. And we should. But I felt like there was a rush to judgment and a lot of people were happy to say, ‘Gotcha.'”
Despite the situation, Richard said he is not bitter. He thinks Ken Jennings is a great host. “I always thought Ken was the right man,” he added.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn