So it’s barely been a week since the announcement, and already, newly appointed Jeopardy! host Mike Richards is in some deep s**t!
Last week, after he was announced as Alex Trebek‘s personal replacement on the popular game show, we reported about a new lawsuit filed against Richards. In it, plaintiffs claim that he made the models on The Price Is Right wear shorter skirts and discriminated against pregnant women while he was an executive producer on that show.
Now, a week later, The Ringer is the first to report on a disturbing old podcast of Richards’ called The Randumb Show and billed as a “behind-the-scenes looks at The Price Is Right and Let’s Make A Deal,” both of which he worked on before moving into Trebek’s sphere. Taken directly from the podcast, which ran from 2013-2014, some truly disturbing comments made by the new Jeopardy! host have now resurfaced.
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During one segment on the show, Richards and his co-host and former assistant Beth Triffon slammed one of the models working at the CES events show, dubbing her a “booth ho,” a “booth slut,” and a “boothstitute.” In another episode, Richards comments on a picture of Triffon and her friends, saying they look “really frumpy and overweight” in the shot, and adding:
“They all look terrible in the picture … they look fat and not good in the picture.”
Wow.
According to THR, Richards also reportedly “used the derogatory word for little people and a derogatory term for the mentally disabled” at different points during that podcast’s run.
Seriously?? Who could possibly think it’s OK to use terms like that??
Richards even singled out Survivor host Jeff Probst as he transitioned to daytime TV, suggesting race was a factor and saying:
“Jeff Probst had a daytime talk show, which I was cheering for because I like, you know, the average white-guy host. I cheer for him to succeed because I feel like through his success I could have some success hosting.”
The new Jeopardy! host apparently did the same thing in regards to American Idol hosting legend Ryan Seacrest, commenting:
“I think he’s actually made the world a safer place for what I like to call the skinny white host, like George [Gray] and I.”
Hmmm… And in one not-as-disturbing moment that is nevertheless particularly ironic considering his new full-time hosting gig, Richards told Triffon that he was “horrible at all trivia” and stated:
“I never would have gotten on Jeopardy!“
And yet here he is now… Sigh… Speaking with Triffon during another point in the podcast, Richards criticized her for giving a dollar to a homeless woman, wondering openly whether she would use it for “some crack or some meth.” And in another disturbing exchange, following the 2014 iCloud photo hack of numerous female celebrities, The Ringer reported the pushed then-assistant Jen Bisgrove if she’d ever taken any nude photos, asking (below):
“Like booby pictures? What are we looking at?”
Later in the show, he “asked to go through her phone,” and when she declined to share an image with him, he pestered her obnoxiously asking whether it was “of her boobies.” Ugh…
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In response now, in a new statement obtained by THR on Wednesday evening, Richards addresses the old podcast comments and claims he is “deeply sorry” for some of the things he said.
Here’s the full statement:
“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. 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. My responsibilities today as a father, husband, and a public personality who speaks to many people through my role on television means I have substantial and serious obligations as a role model, and I intend to live up to them.”
According to the outlet, Jeopardy! producers at Sony Pictures Television claim that they were “unaware of the podcast until yesterday [Tuesday]” and had no further public comment on the issue.
We’ll soon see whether Sony believes in Richards, or if this podcast problem will fester from here… What do U think, Perezcious readers? Shocked by what he said?? Do U accept his apology?! Should he be out of the Jeopardy! job now, or nah?? Sound OFF about everything with your opinions down in the comments (below)…
[Image via Nicky Nelson/WENN]
The post New <i>Jeopardy!</i> Host Mike Richards Apologizes After Horribly Sexist & Inappropriate Podcast Comments Resurface appeared first on Perez Hilton.
