It appears that nobody is more thrilled that “Jeopardy!” executive producer and almost-host, Mike Richards, has been let go from the long running daytime quiz show.
“Do I think Mike Richards’s podcast comments were appropriate for polite society? No. But did he deserve the benefit of the doubt for the job he did running Jeopardy? Also no,” Holzhauer wrote in a series of ecstatic tweets on August 31.
In a follow-up, he shared a GIF of a scene from “The Wizard Of Oz,” where munchkins dance in celebration over the demise of the Wicked Witch of the West. “Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead,” the caption reads.
The same day, he shared a Hollywood Reporter article that detailed Richard’s troubled tenure as the executive producer of “The Price Is Right.”
“The staff he replaced the older staff with were all under 27 and we called ourselves the Brat Pack,” an employee said in the article. “We loved our jobs and loved our mentors and when they became disillusioned, we became disillusioned. When people would leave, they’d replace them with people who were loyal to Mike. It became a vicious cycle.”
“I filed the complaint because I felt Mike Richards was targeting me, trying to get me to quit,” said the show’s former art director Bente Christensen.“CBS ‘looked into’ my allegations that Mike Richards was targeting me, bullying, intimidating and demeaning me.”
She claims CBS deemed Richard’s behavior as not “punitive or illegal,” and most employees eventually “realized going to HR was worthless because they only protect management.”
“Some judged Mike Richards solely on his podcast comments and formed a negative opinion, but I judged him by the way he treated people backstage at Jeopardy and formed a much stronger negative opinion,” Holzhauer tweeted about the article.
Sony Pictures Television sent a statement to the staff of “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” announcing that Richards was exiting both shows as the executive producer.
“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,” the statement read.
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