Newly named “Jeopardy!” host Mike Richards apologized Wednesday evening for sexist comments he made years ago on a podcast.
Richards, who hosted “The Randumb Show” podcast from 2013 to 2014, said in a statement that 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,” he said. “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.”
The online media outlet The Ringer reviewed all 41 episodes of “The Randumb Show” — which were reported to be laden with sexist comments about women’s bodies and clothing — before the recordings were pulled offline Tuesday. NBC News has not listened to the original recordings.
Richards said it was “humbling to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago. Looking back now, there is no excuse, of course, for the comments I made on this podcast and I am deeply sorry.”
The podcast also featured Richards’ former assistant Beth Triffon and occasionally Jen Bisgrove, the podcast’s producer and Richards’ assistant at the time. It was marketed as an inside look at “The Price is Right” and “Let's Make a Deal,” for both of which he was an executive producer.
The Ringer characterized the podcast as “freewheeling, skipping between pop culture news, upcoming TV lineups and the latest goings-on at Price. Many [episodes] have a gossipy edge, with Richards displaying a tendency to turn bawdy and sometimes vulgar.”
In an example from Sept. 4, 2014, after the iCloud photo hack of numerous female celebrities, Richards reportedly asked his assistant and co-host 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?’” The Ringer reported. “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.’”
In a later episode, according to The Ringer, Richards said one-piece bathing suits made women look “frumpy and overweight.”
At other times, he mocked Triffon’s appearance and called her a “derogatory term for little people, a word that he also uses to describe the actress Kristin Chenoweth,” The Ringer reported, adding that he also made “disparaging comments about Triffon’s economic status.”
At one point, Triffon explained that she qualified for $389 per week in unemployment benefits after having lost her job.
“The dangerous side about the crack that you just took is that not everyone is like you. But everyone can collect unemployment, which is why we have so many people on unemployment right now. Which is why we have so many people on food stamps. Because what if you got unemployment and food stamps? You’d be like, ‘Good lord, I’m making—.’ You know what I’m saying?” Richards reportedly told her. “Do you feel dirty? Seriously, and I’m not trying to be mean. Do you feel a little dirty?”
Richards, who was named the new “Jeopardy!” host this month, was previously involved in two discrimination lawsuits.
One was filed by Brandi Cochran, a former model for "The Price is Right," who said she was fired after she became pregnant. The suit, filed in March 2010, listed the defendants as CBS Corp., CBS Television Network, Fremantle Media and “The Price is Right.”
Richards, who was not listed as a defendant, was accused in the suit of treating Cochran differently after she announced that she was pregnant in late 2008. The case went to trial, and a jury awarded Cochran more than $8 million.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge later overturned the award, and Cochran and the defendants settled out of court, documents show.
In 2011, Lanisha Cole, another "Price is Right" model, sued, and Richards was among the named defendants. However, he was later dropped as a defendant, and the suit was settled in 2013, according to The Daily Beast.
In a recent note to "Jeopardy!" staff members, Richards described the lawsuits as “employment disputes” against “The Price is Right.”
“I want you all to know that the way in which my comments and actions have been characterized in these complaints does not reflect the reality of who I am or how we worked together on The Price is Right,” he wrote.
