One thing is for sure - it will not be easy to replace Alex Trebek.
After only shooting one episode, Mike Richards has stepped down from his hosting gig at Jeopardy! after eight year old comments resurfaced where he made some disparaging remarks about Jews on his old (and now scrubbed) podcast, "The Randumb Show."Someone on a podcast made a comment about big noses, and Richards responded, "Ixnay on the ose-nay. She's not an ew-Jay." Not only that, he also called his female co-host a "booth slut." According to The Ringer, Mike also went on the podcast and said women "dress like a hooker" for Halloween, said a former employee who took up baking would get "giant" and said one-piece swimsuits make some women "look really frumpy and overweight."
Richards did offer an apology to fans saying, "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." He adds, ""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."
Photo: via Getty Images
Ultimately, this was not something fans were willing to just look past so he made the decision to step down, "I was deeply honored to be asked to host the syndicated show and was thrilled by the opportunity to expand my role. However, over the last several days it has become clear that moving forward as host would be too much of a distraction for our fans and not the right move for the show."
NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers is taking some serious interest in becoming the new permanent host if the powers that be can somehow accommodate his football schedule.