We’ll take “Bye, Felicia” for $500, Mayim.
This week, Sony put the final nail in the coffin of Mike Richards’ career when it announced that Alex Trebek’s near-successor was fired as the executive producer of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune on the heels of his recent controversies.
The studio revealed Who Wants to Be a Millionaire executive producer Michael Davies, whose Embassy Row production company is based at Sony, will take over production duties until a permanent replacement is found. Let’s just hope they don’t do a bunch of celeb auditions for the job…
The news comes just over a week after Richards was forced to resign from his duties as the newly-crowned Jeopardy! host after a series of icky statements he made on an 8-year-old podcast series resurfaced. This pod controversy was fuel for the fire that was already burning due to concerns over the host selection process: fans argued because Richards was an EP on the show, he was able to pull some strings so that the search for Trebek’s replacement was in his favor.
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Yet another wave of anti-Richards outrage stemmed from the unearthed discrimination lawsuits he was implicated in during his tenure on the Price is Right, in which former models working on the popular game show accused him of discriminating against pregnant women, hooking up with an employee, and being generally sexist.
This decision marks a complete U-turn by Sony, which initially voiced support for Richards staying in his role as exec producer even after he forfeited the host chair. The studio said at the time:
“Mike has been with us for the last two years and has led the ‘Jeopardy!’ team through the most challenging time the show has ever experienced. It is our hope that as EP he will continue to do so with professionalism and respect.”
But that apparently wasn’t enough; this week Sony decided to distance itself from Richards altogether. On Tuesday, exec vice president Suzanne Prete sent the following email to Jeopardy and Wheel staffers, per Variety:
“I’m writing to let you know that Mike will no longer be serving as EP of Wheel and Jeopardy! effective immediately. We had hoped that when Mike stepped down from the host position at Jeopardy! it would have minimized the disruption and internal difficulties we have all experienced these last few weeks. That clearly has not happened.”
“Internal difficulties”? Hmm. We’d heard Jeopardy! staffers were unhappy with Richards and how his comments reflected so badly on the show. We guess the unrest got too volatile for Sony to deal with?
The five episodes that Richards shot in his first (and only) day as Trebek’s replacement were scheduled to kick off the new season on September 13, but now it’s unclear if that will change. We do hope they air, as it would be unfair to the contestants to never get a chance to see themselves on TV. Then we can all put this whole thing behind us.
Thoughts on this, Perezcious readers? Do U think Sony made the right decision in giving Richards the axe as EP, too? Sound off (below)!
[Image via Jeopardy/YouTube]
The post Mike Richards FIRED As Exec Producer Of <i>Jeopardy!</i> & <i>Wheel of Fortune</i> Amid Controversies! appeared first on Perez Hilton.