Who Is Mike Richards

If this has been Jeopardy, we'd begin with a solution like this guy stop one of the highest-profile jobs in TV after approximately a week. The query - who's Mike Richards? Mike Richards become the brand new host of the famous quiz display "Jeopardy!" But these days he introduced that he could step down, even though for now it appears he'll continue to be a govt manufacturer. All of this comes after reporting from The Ringer, which discovered sexist and offensive feedback that Richards had made whilst web website hosting a podcast year in the past. In one exchange, he used a demeaning time period for a co-host who as soon as labored as a version at an alternate convention.

MIKE RICHARDS: Beth was given an activity being - what become it? - a sales space hoe.

BETH TRIFFON: I do not assume...

RICHARDS: Yeah.

TRIFFON: ...They use the phrase hoe for that.

CHANG: Well, right here to speak via the "Jeopardy!" controversy is NPR TV critic Eric Deggans. Hey, Eric.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Hi.

CHANG: All right. So Richards become simply named the brand new host final week, which has become already an issue in itself - right? - due to the fact he becomes additionally the display's govt manufacturer and was regarded to essentially select out himself. So why did he determine to step down now?

DEGGANS: Well, I assume the center of that is the query of whether or not Richards has a hassle with sexism. So while information first broke weeks in the past that he become the main candidate for this activity, you know, newshounds cited that after he becomes govt manufacturer of "The Price Is Right," the display had a few complaints from fashions who stated that they have been handled unfairly after they were given pregnant. And The Ringer tale was discovered numerous times wherein Richards spoke at the podcast approximately ladies with this form of informal sexism that regarded just like a number of the worries raised in the one's complaints.

Now, while information of the complaints broke, Richards stated the allegations do not replicate the fact of who he becomes. But it's a harder case to make now. And in his memo to the personnel these days, you know, Richards stated that shifting ahead as host is probably an excessive amount of of a distraction for the display.

CHANG: I mean, Jeopardy knew that they have been changing an icon in Alex Trebek. So how did their choice procedure leave out this, you observed?

DEGGANS: Well, I assume they underestimated how plenty the broader world, particularly folks who do not often watch the display, could scrutinize the selection they have been going to make. And they were not that obvious approximately this feature procedure that won't have been as even-exceeded as they attempted to make it look. You know, Jeopardy spent a variety of time showcasing these types of visitor hosts, and a number of them appeared like applicants for the primary activity, such as a public favorite, LeVar Burton. They even employed one in all them, Mayim Bialik, to host primetime specials.

So while the everyday activity went to the govt manufacturer, this middle-elderly white man with those controversies in his past, it type of regarded just like the restore become in from the beginning. And it additionally regarded just like the display's distributor, Sony Pictures Television, hadn't truly afflicted to vet a man who becomes taking up one in all the most important and maximum commemorated sport display franchises on television. Now "Jeopardy!" is searching for a successor for Trebek, who had this recognition for being fair, humble, right all the way down to earth. And choosing a brand new host with these types of moral questions in a procedure that regarded type of rushed and now no longer that fair - that isn't a very good look.

CHANG: I mean, exactly. But how do you observed the display actions ahead after something like this? I mean, can Mike Richards simply pass lower back to being the display's govt manufacturer?

DEGGANS: Well, I'm going, to be honest. I'm a showbiz cynic, right? So I assume Richards would possibly come to be quietly exiting the display after the dirt settles. But if he is too distracting because of the host, it appears possible that he would possibly have the identical hassle as govt manufacturer. But he taped 5 episodes as host yesterday, which the display says are going to air as scheduled. And Sony launched an announcement pronouncing they were not aware of this in the advance podcast, and they have spoken to him approximately what they count on from him going ahead.

Now, in his word to personnel, Richards stated that the look for a visitor host could resume, and they might tape new episodes with a roster of visitor hosts that they are going to unveil subsequent week. Ultimately, this example is probably a very good instance of how, in contemporary times, if you have got a tangible file of sexism to your past, you can not simply forget about it like not anything took place due to the fact human beings are going to keep you accountable.