Former Jeopardy! Mike Richards, the executive producer, still has one friend in Hollywood. Price is Right host Drew Carey was seen stepping out with Richards for some breakfast in L.A. this week. TMZ reports the two spent a couple of hours eating at Swingers in Hollywood on Beverly Blvd.
Neither celebrity spoke with the outlet regarding what was discussed over food, but it’s likely that the outing served as a nice reprieve from Richards’ ongoing Jeopardy! There has been controversy. Bryan Freedman is said to be the former EP. He was preparing for a legal battle against Sony Pictures Television regarding his firing. The studio reportedly was left with no option, but to ask for Richards’ resignation after many complaints from staff as well as Jeopardy! Fans. Richards may be able to negotiate a substantial salary from Sony because of the added stress and potential future problems that Richards’ incident caused.
Richards became anxious after being announced as Jeopardy!’s new permanent host. He was taking over from Alex Trebek. Richard’s past quickly came back to haunt him, as some of his controversial statements about marginalized groups and news of his involvement with a sexual harassment lawsuit were revealed. Richards quit the position and gave a lengthy statement.
“It pains me that these past incidents and comments have cast such a shadow onJeopardy!as we look to start a new chapter,” In his statement, he said that he had resigned. “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. 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. As such, I will be stepping down as host effective immediately. As a result, we will be canceling production today.”
Sony wanted to retain him in his EP position on Jeopardy. At the time, he was also Wheel of Fortune. Unfortunately, Richards was not pleased. Richards has been close friends with Carey for quite some time. Richards used to be an executive producer on The Price is Right, working with Carey for a while.