Veteran TV producer Mike Richards, who briefly took over as Jeopardy! host following the passing of Alex Trebek before being unceremoniously dumped, has landed a new gig.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Richards has been hired as the president and chief content officer of Daily Wire entertainment, the right-wing conservative media company founded by political commentator Ben Shapiro. He replaces Jeremy Boreing, who stepped down as CEO back in March.
“We knew the answer was, ‘Who is Mike Richards?’ And now we can say ‘he’s an integral part of The Daily Wire’ was the question,” Gloria Taylor, a rep for The Daily Wire, told the outlet. “He’s won 5 Emmy’s, produced over 4,000 hours of network programming, and run some of the most iconic shows the world has ever known. Thank you to the purple hairs. Please ‘cancel’ more creative geniuses.”
From 2009 to 2019, Richards served as the executive producer of The Price Is Right and Let’s Make a Deal. He left those shows in 2019 and joined Sony Pictures Television, where he eventually headed up Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!.
Following the passing of Trebek in 2020, Richards stepped in as a guest host during the show’s rotating line-up of hosts as bosses searched for a new face to permanently take over the franchise. On August 11, 2021, Richards was announced as Trebek’s successor, but he only managed to tape a handful of episodes before controversy saw him removed.
In August 2021, a lawsuit was filed against Richards and others with accusations of workplace discrimination during his tenure as exec producer of The Price is Right. Further controversy emerged when insensitive comments Richards made on a 2013 podcast resurfaced.
On August 20, it was announced Richards would step down as Jeopardy! host having only filmed five episodes. His episodes aired at the start of the 38th before Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik took over as the show’s new hosts.
“As I mentioned last week, I was deeply honored to be asked to host the syndicated show and was thrilled by the opportunity to expand my role,” Richards told staff at the time. “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.”
Fans took to the Jeopardy! Reddit forum to react to Richards’ new gig, with one user writing, “Crazy to think of how much of a bullet we dodged with him getting fired.”
“Maybe not completely dodged. Just grazed the ear, maybe,” another replied.
“On brand,” said another of Richards’ new role.
Another added, “Get canceled, go to far right media. Very common trend we’ve seen.”
“Wow that is legit not surprising but is embarrassing,” said one fan.
“Wild that he felt so entitled for the job of host,” another wrote.
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time,” one commenter added.
Another quipped, “Is that the producer guy who did the extensive search to select the new Jeopardy host and concluded that he was the best candidate?”
“Ahhhh the pipeline from the mainstream to the conservative subculture which is filled with really angry people mad that they can’t get a spot in Hollywood, so they just start parroting viewpoints already spoken by everyone in their subculture,” said another.