By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. Aug. 22, 2021: The man picked to replace Alex Trebek as host of popular trivia show, “Jeopardy!,” is out, but his words, including on Haiti, lives on in the public sphere.
Mike Richards, who was the producer of the show, stepped down from his brief tenure as host after a report about past racist comments surfaced.
Richards had made the comments on a 2013-14 podcast he co-hosted with Beth Triffon titled, “The Randumb Show,” The Ringer website revealed.
On one of the episodes, when Triffon mentioned problems with her apartment, Richards reportedly said: “Does Beth live, like, in Haiti?”
“Doesn’t it sound like that?” Richards reportedly added. “Like, the urine smell, the woman in the muumuu, the stray cats.”
Richards, in stepping aside, has not actually apologized, but said that “it’s more than clear that my attempts to be funny and provocative were not acceptable, and I have removed the episodes.”
Comedian and Late Show host, Stephen Colbert, slammed the action, calling it an “interesting” apology. He also compared it to saying, “I know I drove drunk and plowed through your rose garden, and to prove I’m sorry, I recycled my empty liquor bottles.”
