Celebrities Are Not Holding Back After Mike Richards Quits as Host of 'Jeopardy!'

Kayla Keegan
·6 min read
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The chaotic search to replace Alex Trebek got even messier late last week after Mike Richards announced he was stepping down as the new weekly host of Jeopardy! one week after being offered the position.

Mike's decision, which he shared in an internal memo to the Jeopardy! staff on Friday, appears to have stemmed from a series of controversial past remarks that were resurfaced last week in a report from The Ringer. The announcement also came after former harassment and discrimination lawsuits against CBS reemerged from when Mike was an executive producer at The Price Is Right.

Mike will continue to be the executive producer of Jeopardy! and shared that Sony Pictures Television will resume its search for the next permanent host while the quiz show's new season is set to premiere on September 13. It's unclear who will guest host in the future, especially since the show has already featured a rotation of celebrities, Jeopardy! contestants, athletes and journalists at the lectern over the past several months.

Mayim Bialik is still expected to be the Jeopardy! host of any primetime specials.

After Mike stepped down last Friday, many viewers and celebrity Jeopardy! fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the latest development. Given that many had initially thought LeVar Burton deserved to be awarded the opportunity, some were given renewed hope that Sony might now reconsider the Reading Rainbow star for the role. Regardless, LeVar sent out one of his regular "Happy Friday, y'all!" tweets right around the time the news broke.

Here is a look at how some famous folks reacted to the news. As you'll see, the reactions varied from serious to humorous and everything in between:

Celebrity Jeopardy! fans

Ryan Reynolds: "Pretty consistently from 2013 to 2015 Deadpool would explode on Twitter with fans wanting me to play him. It was awkward because I agreed with them but the studio didn’t see it. Ultimately the fans won and the rest is glorious history. I’m forever grateful. Hi @levarburton."

Meghan McCain: (reacting to LeVar's "Happy Friday" tweet): "Happy Friday to my @Jeopardy host!"

Roxane Gay: (one of multiple tweets): "I think I might write an essay about this but… it shouldn’t be this hard for @levarburton to receive serious consideration as @Jeopardy host. He isn’t some random idea people have. He taught generations of children to read. He has real depth. He is charming and handsome."

David Simon: "I stand ready to accept the people's nomination as the next host of Jeopardy. Provided: 1) I am permitted to remark on the abject stupidity in every wrong answer. 2) I can snidely demonstrate additional knowledge in reply to every right answer. 3) F--k the question-form shit.

Yvette Nicole Brown: "NONE of this had to happen. A FAIR process creating an EVEN playing field and EQUAL chance for EVERYONE to shine is all it took ... #JustiveForLeVar"

Jeff B. Davis: Pretty sure I should host @Jeopardy. Retweet this until it happens and I’ll take you all to dinner somewhere nice."

Keith Olbermann: "So sometimes you DON’T get away with it #Jeopardy"

Gritty: "what us, hbu @jeopardy"

Jon Daly: "Mike Richards was Jeopardy host for less than one Scaramucci! Apparently he was 3 toddlers in a trenchcoat? Name a less problematic host, I’ll wait… Uhhhh Levar much???"

Former Jeopardy! contestants

Arthur Chu: "I'm just gonna say that Alex Trebek was the host for literally my entire life and the biggest scandal I remember with him was when that Kids' Jeopardy contestant spelled an answer wrong on Final Jeopardy and Alex wouldn't just let him have it even though he was really sad."

James Holzhauer: "I was really looking forward to the season premiere where after an exhaustive 61-clue search for the next Jeopardy champion, the show looks past the three obvious candidates and declares Mike Richards the winner."


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