Entertainment

Just over a week after being announced as the new host of the syndicated version of Jeopardy!, Mike Richards is stepping down “effective immediately” amid resurfaced controversial remarks.

He announced his decision Friday in an internal note sent to Jeopardy! staff and obtained by ABC News.

“It pains me that these past incidents and comments have cast such a shadow on Jeopardy! as we look to start a new chapter,” Richards began.

“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,” he continued. “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.”

Richards said Sony Pictures Entertainment, which produces the quiz show, “will now resume the search for a permanent syndicated host.”

He said guest hosts will be brought back in the meantime so production on the new season can continue, and that further details will be announced next week.

“I want to apologize to each of you for the unwanted attention that has come to Jeopardy! over the last few weeks and for the confusion and delays this is now causing,” Richards concluded the memo. “I know I have a lot of work to do to regain your trust and confidence.”

A spokesperson for Sony Pictures Television said the company supports Richards’ decision and was “surprised this week to learn of … the offensive language he used in the past” on a podcast he hosted from 2013 and 2014.

“We have spoken with him about our concerns and our expectations going forward,” the spokesperson added. “Mike has been with us for the last two years and has led the Jeopardy! team through the most challenging time the show has ever experienced. It is our hope that as [executive producer] he will continue to do so with professionalism and respect.”

Richards was announced as the successor for Alex Trebek, who died last November after a years-long battle with pancreatic cancer, on Aug. 11. The Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik was simultaneously tapped to host for future “Jeopardy!” primetime specials and spinoffs.

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Sabrina the Teenage Witch alum Melissa Joan Hart is begging fans to “stay vigilant” after she contracted COVID-19, even though she was vaccinated.

Hart, in an emotional video posted to Instagram, explained, “I am vaccinated and I got COVID and it’s bad.  It’s weighing on my chest.  It’s hard to breathe.”

The actress believes she isn’t the only member of her family who is sick, telling fans, “one of my kids, I think, has it.”

While not revealing who in her family may also be struggling with COVID-19, Hart said she is “praying” that the rest of her family stays healthy.

“I’m mad, really mad,” expressed Hart, 45. “We took precautions and we cut our exposure by a lot, but we got a little lazy and I think as a country we got lazy.”

“I’m really mad that my kids didn’t have to wear masks at school and I’m pretty sure that’s where this came from,” she sighed, adding that her youngest, Tucker, who is eight, chose to wear a mask in school “because he’s used to it from last year.”

“Now, if he does get [COVID-19], I can at least tell him he was a superhero… because he protected his teacher and classmates,” Hart said as her voice swelled with emotion before admitting she is “scared” for her family.

“If someone has to be taken to the hospital, I can’t go with them,” Hart tearfully explained, noting how she is “disappointed” in herself and in “our leaders.”

“I just wish I’d done better, so I’m asking you guys to do better,” she closed. “Protect your families, protect your kids, it’s not over yet. I hoped it was, but it’s not. So, stay vigilant and stay safe.  Okay?”

 

 

 

 

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Mike Richards, who was recently announced as the new host of Jeopardy!, has issued an apology about his past controversial behavior.

Following the announcement that he will serve as host of the beloved game show, replacing the late Alex Trebek, allegedly sexist comments Richards made between 2013 and 2014 came to light.  

E! News reports the remarks were made on a podcast, but also that the episodes in question have since been deleted.  The outlet reports that some remarks included Richards, who also produces Jeopardy!, saying one-piece swimsuits make women look “really frumpy and overweight,” and mocking celebrities affected by the 2014 hack that exposed their nude photos.

In response to the growing backlash, Richards addressed his past behavior on Thursday and issued an apology.

“It is humbling to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago,” he told E! News. “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,” Richards continued. “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.”

Richards, as well as former The Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik, were recently announced as Trebek’s replacements. Richards will host the syndicated Jeopardy! show and will remain executive producer, while Bialik will host Jeopardy!’s primetime and spinoff series, including the upcoming Jeopardy! National College Championship.

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In the new film Flag Day, opening today in select theaters, Sean Penn directs his daughter Dylan in her first starring role. They play a father and a daughter with a complicated relationship, and he tells ABC Audio it’s something he wanted to make for a while, though she was hesitant.

“If I was going to make the movie…the only way I was going to really know how to make it was with her,” Sean, 61, says, adding, “She was reluctant to do it…So we had to sit back and be patient.”

And patient he was, because Dylan reveals that it took her about 15 years to finally agree to the gig. 

“The first time he brought it to my attention, I was pretty young, I was maybe 15, 16,” the now 30-year-old actress explains.

“I never wanted to act…And then I just didn’t really feel like I was ready to take on a role like that,” she continued. “I read the book and I hadn’t grown up. So I think, 15 years later, I had grown up a bit.”

So, what’s it like working opposite, and being directed by, her superstar dad? 

“Overwhelming,” Dylan admits. “I was nervous…like a lot of people would be nervous to work in a professional environment with their family the first time. You don’t know how that’s going to play out.”

As for Sean’s take, he says working with his daughter made his job a little easier. 

“What you’re trying to do is express a feeling of a relationship. And I think that we were definitely able to use the emotional shorthand that we had from growing up together,” the Oscar winner says. “It’s a coming of age story where I’m the one coming of age.”

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Kandi Burruss had success as a member of Xscape and star of Real Housewives of Atlanta, and now she’s displaying her versatility with acting and producing her first Broadway play.

Last year she made her acting debut in the role of Roselyn Perry in season three of Lena Waithe’s The Chi, set on the south side of Chicago.

“I wanted people to see me in this light of being an actress and really feeling like I have embodied the character,” she tells Hello Beautiful. “I’m not just a reality TV star who got a break.”

The 45-year-old entertainer admits she was nervous, especially for her first sex scene.

“I was already trying to prepare my mind for it,” she recalls, “but, it’s like, I have to go through the motions with somebody that was a complete stranger.”

The Grammy-winning composer and singer also had to face jealousy from her husband, Todd Tucker.

“He was like a little weird about it,” she remembers. “He was supportive, but it was a little awkward for him. I’m not gonna lie about that, but he was still supportive. It wasn’t like, he was like, ‘No, you can’t do this show.’ He had to deal with it in his head.”

Now Kandi is focusing on her debut as a Broadway producer for Thoughts of a Colored Man which opens October 31, starring Dyllón Burnside from Pose.

“Broadway has been known as ‘The Great White Way’ for a long time in past history,” she says. “To have a show like this with all of us, you know, being a part of it, championing it. It has to be a success. It’ll be a win for not just us, but for the whole culture.”

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Big-screen tough guy Jason Statham and his actress fiancée Rosie Huntington-Whiteley are apparently expecting their second child. “Taaa daahhh !! #Round 2,” Rosie wrote on Instagram today, along with some cute emoijis, and photos of her showing off her tiny baby bump in various outfits.

Wrath of Man star Statham, 54, and Mad Max: Fury Road‘s Huntington-Whiteley also have a 4-year-old son, Jack Oscar.

The celebrity couple reportedly met in 2010, and in 2016 they made a red-carpet splash at the Golden Globes, announcing they’d gotten engaged.

 

 

 

 

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Nicole Kidman is set to star as comedy legend Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin‘s upcoming Amazon Studios biopic, Being the Ricardos, and although Ball’s daughter, Lucie Arnaz, hasn’t seen the finished product, she’s already raving about the actress.

Speaking with The Palm Springs Life magazine on August 18, Lucie gushed, “Nicole did a spectacular job.” 

“The two days that I watched, though, were both little flashbacks, so she was playing Lucy in the late ’30s and mid-’40s,” Arnaz went on. “She wasn’t Lucy of Lucy Ricardo fame yet, so it was a trifle different. And I know she meant it to be, so it could feel different. But boy, what she did was astounding. She’s got such poise and class,” Arnaz said of Kidman.

Alongside Kidman, Javier Bardem was cast as Dezi Arnaz, Ball’s husband and Lucie’s dad.

In January, Lucie defended Kidman’s casting after some expressed that they felt Debra Messing or others would be better suited for the role. 

“Here’s the deal. You should understand we are not doing a remake of I Love Lucy. No one has to impersonate Lucy Ricardo nor do the Vitameatavegamin routine or the chocolate factory routine or any of the silly things,” Lucie explained in a Facebook video at the time. “It’s the story of Lucille Ball, my actual mother, not Lucy Ricardo, and her husband, Dezi Arnaz, my dad, not Ricky Ricardo.”

A release date for Being the Ricardos has yet to be announced. 

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The critically-panned movie CATS will always have a special place in star Jennifer Hudson‘s heart.  

Speaking to Total Film, the singer defended the 2019 movie musical, which flopped at the box office and became a certified punchline at various award shows — with fellow CATS alums James Corden and Rebel Wilson ripping the movie at the 2020 Academy Awards.

Unlike some of her peers, however, Hudson demonstrated how much she cares for the movie when praising the interviewer for even mentioning it during her interview.

“I loved that you asked about CATS!,” she exclaimed. “You know what? I think it was a bit overwhelming. It’s unfortunate that it was misunderstood.”

“I think later down the line, people will see it differently. But it is something I am still very proud of and grateful to have been a part of,” the Respect star continued, adding that she is honored to have played Grizabella — who belts out the musical’s most famous song, “Memories.”

In addition, Hudson revealed that CATS also inspired her to open her heart and home to two actual cats.  She added that she even named her new felines after the characters Grizabella and Macavity, the latter played by Idris Elba in the film.

Said the Grammy winner, “They are the best thing I’ve ever had. I love them so much.”

CATS debuted December 29, 2019 and earned a lukewarm $27.2 million during its North American box office run.  The movie was also panned on Rotten Tomatoes, where it currently sits with a 19% rating.

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Marvel Studios has released a sweeping new trailer for Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao‘s The Eternals. 

Along with some eye-popping visuals, the trailer details the movie’s plot, and also answers the question non-comics readers might have been asking themselves: “Um, who are The Eternals?”

The trailer explains that the super-powerful figures were created 7,000 years ago by god-like characters known as The Celestials — Kurt Russell played the Celestial Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and another, seen in the new trailer, was shown laying waste to a planet in the first Guardians film.

The new footage clarifies the Eternals were created to protect our planet from an alien menace known as The Deviants — and only The Deviants.

“Why didn’t you guys help fight Thanos…or all the other terrible things throughout history?” Kit Harington‘s heroic Black Knight sarcastically asks Gemma Chan‘s Eternal Sersei.

“We were instructed not to interfere…unless Deviants were involved,” Sersei responds.

Salma Hayek‘s Ajak explains that the Avengers’ victory at the end of Endgame — bringing back all the life that Thanos had snapped away — created The Emergence, an awakening of The Deviants, that will destroy the planet in seven days, unless The Eternals reunite from all over the globe to stop them. 

“We’ve loved these people since the day we arrived,” Angelina Jolie‘s Thena says in voiceover. “When you love something, you protect it”

“You can’t protect any of them,” replies the Deviant leader Kro.

The footage also shows the other Eternals — including Richard Madden‘s Ikaris, Barry Keoghan‘s Druig, Kumail Nanjiani‘s Kingo, Brian Tyree Henry‘s Phastos, and Lia McHugh‘s Sprite — using their respective powers to combat the threat.

The Eternals movie opens November 5 from Marvel Studios, which is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News.

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Marlon Wayans is ready to up the ante on his career. After his dramatic performance as Aretha Franklin‘s first husband, Ted White, in Respect, the comedian-actor says he’s also working behind the scenes to develop new projects.

“I’m going to start developing more drama — a few that I’m developing now,” Wayans tells ABC Audio. “I have a deal at HBO Max. And so, we’re developing all kinds of different vehicles, because [after] Respect…I have my standup special on HBO Max, You Know What It Is, coming out August 19th.”

Marlon says working on other projects besides those that are comedy-based allows him to show his “range and versatility” as an actor and creative.

“I want to be able to do it all,” he says. “I don’t wanna be pigeonholed. I want to be able to do everything: from parody to sketch to romantic comedies to dramatic leads…and give 150 percent of myself to everything I do. Even standup comedy.”

While Wayans says he hopes “audiences” simply view him a “dope artist” that they want to go see and support, the Scary movie standout reveals that his personal aspirations are much higher.

“I want to be like the Prince of acting and comedy,” he says. “It’s like, ‘Hey, he’s on the drums. He did a spin, he’s dancing. He got three guitars in his hand. Oh, he’s playing bass now? And he’s singing the high notes and dancing?’ That’s the kind of performer I want to be.”

Respect, also starring Jennifer Hudson, is in theaters now. Marlon Wayans: You Know What It Is is now available on HBO Max.

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