Mike Richards apologizes for past sexist jokes as more concerns over his Jeopardy! ascension emerge

The Ringer

With Richards scheduled to tape his first episodes as Jeopardy! host on Thursday, The Ringer's Claire McNear, author of a book detailing Jeopardy! history, has released a comprehensive report that raises alarming questions about his selection as Alex Trebek's successor. In particular, McNear found a podcast that Richards hosted from 2013 to 2014 called The Randumb Show, which was taped at The Price is Right set. "A review of all 41 episodes of the podcast that were available online until Tuesday reveals that Richards repeatedly used offensive language and disparaged women’s bodies," reports McNear. "In an episode published on September 4, 2014, after the iCloud photo hack, which exposed intimate images of numerous female celebrities, Richards asked his assistant and his cohost—both much younger women—whether they had ever taken nude photos. When his cohost said that she had sometimes taken photos of herself when she thought she looked cute, Richards responded, 'Like booby pictures? What are we looking at?' Later, he asked to go through her phone; when she declined to share an image with him, he asked whether it was “of (her) boobies. On another 2014 episode, Richards said that one-piece swimsuits made women look 'really frumpy and overweight,' echoing the portion of (former Price is Right model Brandi) Cochran’s lawsuit that mentions Richards’s preferences about swimwear. Hours after The Ringer asked Sony and Richards’s agent about The Randumb Show, the audio of every episode was pulled down and the podcast’s hosting site, mrichtv.podbean.com, was deleted." In response, Richards issued a statement of apology. “It is humbling to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago," said Richards. "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.” Sony declined to comment, but McNear reports that, based on a source, the company was unaware that the podcast existed. In her reporting, McNear echoed a recent New York Times report that Richards had excluded veteran producers from Jeopardy!'s focus groups on the guest-hosts. "As executive producer, Richards controlled nearly everything about Jeopardy!’s most recent season," says McNear. "Sources say this led to myriad conflicts of interest." As an anonymous Sony employee put it: "He was the one rehearsing and giving direction to all the guest hosts, who may not have realized they were competing with him for the job. He could influence the promotion of those shows and the respective guest hosts. He had personal relationships with the executives involved, who had entrusted the show to him a year before...t’s not hard to see the structural advantages that such a candidate would have. Would he vigorously advocate for the strongest guest hosts, as an EP normally would in that situation?” McNear also noted that it appeared Jeopardy! staffers and even Alex Trebek expected Ken Jennings to be Trebek's successor. In the Mike Richards era, McNear adds, there's "a widespread perception internally of a power vacuum" with Sony seemingly having more influence than ever. In contrast, longtime former Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune executive producer Harry Friedman had "a rare level of autonomy within Sony, where Wheel and Jeopardy! were seen as off-limits to meddling from studio executives." McNear also looked back at Richards' stint as an executive producer on The Price is Right and found "similar feelings of disorientation among the show staff." She also points out that in another podcast, Richards mocked people who are homeless and on government assistance -- in contrast to Trebek, who donated hundreds of thousands to help the homeless. Yet, McNear adds, "Richards himself has recently received government assistance. According to Small Business Administration data made available by government watchdog group Accountable.US, a consultancy that was incorporated in 2018 and lists Richards as the CEO and sole shareholder received a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan for $127,906 in May 2020, as well as a COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan for $150,000 later that year." Richards did not respond to requests for comment on the loans.