Days after he stepped down as the newly appointed host of the show, Mike Richards will now no longer serve as executive producer of “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” according to a memo to staff that was confirmed by Sony Pictures Television, which produces both game shows.
This comes after continued backlash from fans of the game show who found it questionable that Richards was still the executive producer after his past misogynistic, and disparaging comments that cost him the hosting gig in the first place. The Ringer reported on the controversial comments made by Richards on his “The Randumb Show” podcast, in which he used offensive language and disparaged women’s bodies. These statements include him saying that one-piece swimsuits make women look “really frumpy and overweight.”
“It’s surprising that Sony kept Richards on as long as it did,” said crisis public relations expert Eden Gillott on the situation. Before the past comments were revealed, many fans of “Jeopardy!” found the hiring of Mike Richards controversial due to the fact that Richards was the executive producer, and questions arose surrounding how much if a hand he to play in himself being chosen. This wasn’t helped by The New York Times reporting that Richards alone selected the episodes with each host candidate that were sent to focus groups for review during the host search process.
The episodes that Richards had taped during his short tenure as host will still air starting September 13; as redoing the shows would be unfair to contestants and also further undermine the show.
