Everything about the Jeopardy mess is just depressing. Mike Richards should have never been in charge of the replacement host search. He should have never been allowed to choose himself. Sony corporate should have seen the issues with Richards, but they didn’t because lol, why would they bother to vet a white dude? Jeopardy has already filmed a week of episodes with Richards as host, and they will air as scheduled. While the host-search process starts anew, producers have asked Mayim Bialik to step in as temporary weeknight host, not just primetime host (which is her position now).
The sitcom star Mayim Bialik will temporarily take over weeknight hosting duties at “Jeopardy!” as the venerable quiz show regroups in the wake of last week’s departure of its new host, Mike Richards. Sony Pictures Entertainment named Mr. Richards, the executive producer of “Jeopardy!,” as the successor to Alex Trebek this month. But he stepped down on Friday amid a furor over sexist and offensive comments he made on a podcast several years ago. For now, Mr. Richards remains the show’s executive producer.
Sony said on Monday that Ms. Bialik would host this week’s tapings of “Jeopardy!” in Culver City, Calif., 15 episodes in all. The company said it had resumed its search for a permanent replacement for Mr. Trebek, it but has not revealed a formal list of candidates.
“As we move forward with production on this season of ‘Jeopardy!,’ additional guest hosts will be announced,” Sony said in a statement on Monday.
The renewed search for a replacement for Mr. Trebek is welcome news for a parade of wannabe hosts and their fans. Ken Jennings, a fan favorite who won a record 74 consecutive games, was seen by some “Jeopardy!” crew members as Mr. Trebek’s preferred heir. When Mr. Jennings arrived to guest host the show as part of the audition process, he found a pair of Mr. Trebek’s cuff links and a handwritten note from Mr. Trebek’s widow, Jean, waiting for him.
There has also been a prominent campaign in support of LeVar Burton, a star of “Reading Rainbow” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” “‘Jeopardy!’ is a cultural touchstone, and for a Black man to occupy that podium is significant,” Mr. Burton told The New York Times this year.
You know what I wonder? I wonder if producers – Mike Richards included – are thinking that Mayim might be a “hit” and that this temporary weeknight hosting gig could turn into a more permanent solution. I bet that’s how Sony executives feel too – like, there’s a wait-and-see aspect, and they’re going to watch very carefully to see the reaction to Mayim’s episodes whenever they air.
Speaking of, there’s still a lot of talk about whether or not Mayim is anti-Vaxx. It all started in 2012, when Mayim wrote a parenting book called Beyond the Sling. She wrote in that book, “We made an informed decision not to vaccinate our children, but this is a very personal decision that should be made only after sufficient research, which today is within reach of every parent who seeks to learn about their child’s health regardless of their medical knowledge or educational status.” During the Jeopardy tryouts, there was outcry about these quotes (as there should be) and Mayim’s rep clarified that Mayim “has been fully vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus and is not at all an anti-vaxxer.” Mayim also tweeted, in 2015: “dispelling rumors abt my stance on vaccines. i’m not anti. my kids are vaccinated. so much anger and hysteria. i hope this clears things up.” So she’s pro-vaccine when the vaccines are about Covid. But are her children fully vaxxed for everything? VF noted that Mayim seemed to talk around that particular issue in a YouTube video last year:
She further explained how her thinking about immunization had evolved in an October 2020 YouTube video titled, “Anti-Vaxxers and Covid.” Bialik shared that she and her two kids would be receiving both COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots. “This year I’m gonna do something I literally haven’t done in 30 years: I’m gonna get a vaccine. I know! And guess what? I’m actually gonna get two. You might be saying, ‘Hey, wait a second, Dr. Mayim Bialik, you don’t believe in vaccines! You’re one of those anti-vaxxers,’” Bialik continued. “I wrote a book about 10 years ago about my experience parenting, and at the time my children had not received the typical schedule of vaccines. But I have never, not once, said that vaccines are not valuable, not useful, or not necessary, because they are.”
She added, “The truth is, I delayed vaccinations for reasons that you don’t necessarily get to know about simply because you follow me on social media…. As of today, my children may not have had every one of the vaccinations that your children have, but my children are vaccinated.” Bialik then detailed her beliefs that children receive “way too many vaccines in this country” and that “the medical community often operate[s] from a place of fear in order to make money.” Still, she found it “very disturbing” that some people would not be vaccinated against COVID-19. I want my immune system to have the best chance at fighting anything that comes its way, especially if that’s COVID.”
Wait what? She’s really trying to thread that needle of “sounding like a sane person who believes in science” and “sounding like she’s just crazy enough to only halfway vaccinate her children because she thinks she’s smarter than immunologists.” She’s playing a very strange game with the anti-vaxxers, leaving just enough room to plausibly claim she’s both pro-vaccine and anti-vaxx-adjacent. And yes, this should absolutely be a factor in the larger discussions of whether or not Mayim keeps a permanent Jeopardy hosting gig.
Photos courtesy of Jeopardy’s IG.
I used to read her old blog about 10 years ago and she was absolutely posting things that were anti-vax (it’s the main reason I stopped paying attention to her. With a PhD in neuroscience, she should have known better than to peddle pseudo-scientific nonsense) – she’s changed her mind and that’s great, but it’s weird for her to backtrack now about her past views
Yes, to me, she’s outright lying. Her book clearly and unequivocally stated that she would not be vaccinating her kids, and she encouraged people to “educate” themselves about vaccines, suggesting that she knew something to suggest that kids should not be receiving vaccinations. She needs to own that. SHE put it out there and is now pretending that something else was going on and that she merely meant delaying vaccinations or not getting them all. I would respect her some tiny bit if she could admit that she was in error and has educated herself for real this time. And don’t get me started on her awful views about C-sections.
Oh the c- section about babies that can’t be born complications free and vaginally should be left to “pass peacefully” because of evolution comments?
No, let’s talk about that.
It shows how little she takes into account all the complications that can happen during labor. And it’s not because the infant is undesirable from her evolutionary standard.
This woman is both very academically smart and dumber than a sack of hair.
I’m done with Jeopardy! And it’s sad. Why couldn’t LeVar Burton host again?
Mayim seems to feel insecure about herself and her judginess, contrarian views and inability to ever admit she said something wrong or even just changed her mind is all coming from that need to prop up her fragile ego.
Actually. I am a fully vaxxed person and I believe the amount of vaccinations deffer in every country. And I know that for some vaccinations allergies are different, so some people can’t get certain ones. I for one, can’t receive the flu one because I’m allergic to eggs!
There are actually several influenza vaccines now that don’t used the egg based proteins
Not in my country, unfortunately.
If her kids had an allergy, I feel like she would have said it.
i agree with @questions. it’s uncontroversial and legit to say “my kids have an allergy but I’m provax and if they could get the shot we would”
that’s not what she’s talking about – she’s talking about skipping some shots (probably the mmr) or possibly following what’s known as an “alternative schedule” – something vaccine hesitant/antivax-lite parents have been doing for years where they choose their own adventure spacing out vaccinations. those regimens aren’t tested for safety or efficacy so it’s the worst of both worlds.
she also had a blog where she posted antivax nonsense so i think we can safely assume she’s just trying to play both sides here.
Tbh, I didn’t know that alternative could actually exist. Vaccines are mandatory where I live, I don’t understand how they could have become optional in the last years.
So, yeah, I am not familiar with the alternative.
Tbh2, she always eerked me the wrong way.
She sounds like an anti-vaxxer to me. What a disaster.
They should bring up her slut shaming as well. This woman irks me on multiple levels.
Absolutely. That editorial was just awful.
This.
She victim blamed, patted herself on the back for being ‘modest’ as though that has ANYTHING to do with rape, and ignored rape culture altogether, and when she was called out on it, did the entire “I was misunderstood, people are so mean” song and dance.
And the op-ed wasn’t the first time. She did the same thing with Ariana Grande too, and when called out on it, fell back on the “have a sense of humor” excuse.
I find this behavior just as gross as the anti-vaxx stuff.
Yup. Blossom is anti-vaxx and doesn’t respect other women.
She just doesn’t respect other women, she hates other women.
Yep. It’s ironic how the ‘get a sense of humor’ victim-blaming women are almost always the same ones who go on about ‘self-respect.’ They don’t see how pressuring girls and women to quietly laugh along with things like that (with the implication being that if they don’t, they’re just divas) contradicts ‘lessons’ they think they have to offer on self-respect, or basic respect for women period. It’s exactly what men have done to women.
EXACTLY THIS! She is very problematic, and I have no idea why they’ve chosen her, even temporarily. If they really wanted female, they could have had Laura Coats, who was on Trebek’s short list of potential hosts.
She is only backtracking now because its convenient to her making money. She is absolutely anti vaxx and always has been
Why does she think children are vaccinated too much? Don’t you just get the regular schedule (along with the boosters for certain diseases) when you’re little and then they sort of just stop once you’ve done what is required? Each vaccine is for a different kind of disease (i.e polio, chicken pox, etc). Did she every clarify what over-vaccinated means?
She’s probably good at taking tests, but I find anything she writes a bit of a headache to read.
Let’s not forget that in an interview about childbirth she also told writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner that “nature should take its course” if a woman needs a C-section, knowing full well that Taffy had struggled in the aftermath of a traumatic C-section. She’s the worst.
Thank you. As someone whose child only lived because of an emergency c-section, I find her views abhorrent She’s rigid and self-righteous and just plain wrong. No need to give her a platform or more attention. She’s even shilling vitamins now. Just gross behavior.
If that’s really her view, then she needs to go live in the woods on her own. And start from scratch since she believes natural is the best way to go. She shouldn’t need anything and be happy “nature can take its course”.
I did not know she had said that. Wow. Has she ever backtracked those comments? Now I just completely wrote her off.
(I had a good friend once say – not to me, but in general convo – that she didn’t think having a c-section was “giving birth” and she was glad she did not need one bc she wanted to give birth. This wasn’t said to me like I said, but I sure heard it, and I have had two c-sections. Never forgot it.)
A fair amount of women do feel self righteous about being able to give birth vaginally. Claiming you bond with your child in a similar to $cientology sort of way. And if you can’t deliver your infant in this way, you are less of a mother.
Too judgy.
You know Becks, those people can take all the seats. They consider labor and delivery to be some performative mother nature event. Meanwhile, I was in labor for over 15 hours and had to have a C section, which I gladly did because I only cared about my child’s safety. I wasn’t there for the social media credit. 🙄
OMG, I did not know about that.
My oldest would likely not be here if it weren’t for c-sections, nor would I, quite frankly. My first pregnancy was so risky that I was told by one doc I couldn’t give birth vaginally and by another just an hour later that a c-section was out of the question (they were each looking at different sections of the radiology report, something which taught me about siloing and hyper-focusing).
I gave birth at a teaching hospital and agreed to allow students to observe and it was PACKED because I was such an unusual case. They even were all “ooooooOOOOoooooh” when I was opened. There was real concern even after my baby was safely out about me and it took them forever to stop the bleeding and get me closed up. It’s funny now, but it was terrifying then.
She can fuck the hell off forever as far as I’m concerned. What a toxic jerk.
I’m not sure my baby or would have survived if I didn’t have a C-Section. What an awful woman.
I’m not sure my baby or I would have survived if I didn’t have a C-Section. What an awful woman.
i don’t like her and i don’t want her to succeed (because antivax) but what a sh*tty move to be like “we’ve hired two hosts! this gross dude and this woman!” and then the gross dude has to step down so they start a new search for another gross dude rather than rolling with the woman who will already be doing the job?
But I think you answered your own question there – she’s a terrible anti-vaxxer that has slut shamed women that were abuse victims and said out loud that if you need a c-section “nature should take its course”.
She shouldn’t get the job just because she’s a woman – there are other, non-problematic women. Just saying…
Y’all…the woman has a PhD in neuroscience. Fine, it’s not in immunology. But when she says she did research on vaccines, I think we should give her the benefit of the doubt that it was not internet research on crackpot websites. The woman is a member of the scientific community. Saying she should know better than to believe in anti-vax pseudo-science…this person, this one celebrity, she may probably understand the science of vaccinations better than the average American. I’m not suggesting we all defer to Blossom’s expertise in all matters, or even in this one, but I do not think it is correct to toss this one into basket of ignorant anti-vax nutjobs. She is an actual honest-to-god scientist, and I think that her opinions on scientific matters deserve a drop more respect than, say, Kat Von D’s.
lol no
Wakefield was a real Dr and scientist, being educated has nothing to do with being a POS with an agenda
Just fyi, a someone with a PhD is a “real doctor”, just not a doctor of medicine (I have a PhD)
Mayim is trash for believing anti-vax nonsense though.
I should have phrased it Wakefield was Also a real crackpot pos Dr with a money agenda.
I was not saying a ph.d is not a real dr
Now explain why she’s using that PhD to sell “brain pills”.
Just because someone is educated doesn’t mean they’re actually smart or doing the right thing.
Ben Carson was a pioneering brain surgeon before he sold his soil and his credentials to work for trump. Jordan Peterson is a published researcher best known in Joe Rogan and Alex Jones circles now. Andrew Wakefield was a well regarded doctor before he published THE anti-vaxx paper linking it to autism and then was found to have tortured the kids to get the data and made most of it up.
Your argument makes no sense at all.
I absolutely DO toss her into the basket of ignorant anti-vax nutjobs. She is an a**hole.
No. Saying she has a ph.D so we should give her a pass on this is really bad, because it gives credibility to her stance. She’s a neuroscientist. She’s not an immunologist or public health expert. She should know to defer to the actual experts in this field. It’s not as simple as saying “fine, its not in immunology, but she’s still a scientist so….”
Our two best friends are neuroscientists and I can tell you that they would NEVER try to pass off their expertise as being in any other field besides neuroscience. Yes they are better versed in reading scientific articles and studies etc than I am, but they are still not experts in the fields of immunology or public health or vaccines or contagious diseases. They have a leg up over me, but that’s it.
Also, lots of honest-to-god scientists (who are actually experts in this field) support vaccinations, developed the vaccines, have come up with the vaccination schedule, and so on- why should I give more respect to Mayim Bialik than them?
Yes to all of what you are saying about neuroscientists not claiming to be experts outside their field. Plus, I know she has a Ph.D, but I think of scientists as being people whose job is to be a scientist — keeping up with the field, doing research and studies, writing papers and maybe books and articles, writing funding applications, attending and/or organizing conferences, and depending on where they work, doing admin and teaching. My impression is that just having a years-old Ph.D isn’t necessarily enough to call yourself a scientist — unless you’re mostly looking to cash in. I wouldn’t normally be this harsh but using “I’m a scientist!” to promote pseudoscience is dangerous and bad form.
She has not used her Ph.D for anything except to play a neuroscientist on television. She received it in 2007, long before covid hit. She’s an annoying know it all.
The fact that she’s a scientist makes it even worse and more dangerous.
She’s also behind the website holisticmoms.org that advocates against modern medicine. She has no idea what she’s talking about. So she’s not only getting her “info” from crackpot websites, she’s working with them as well.
honest to god scientists and physicians can be crackpots, too, and legit scientists give evidence to back up their claims – they don’t expect or receive the benefit of the doubt, especially when they’re going against evidence-based best practice.
within the scientific community, you don’t automatically get cred just because you went to school for a subject (especially one unrelated to the topic at hand). there are plenty of bit-rate scientists churning out low-quality work in predatory journals.
mayim pushed antivax nonsense on her blog and the onus is on her to justify that. the fact she is using her science background to legitimize that means she should face MORE scrutiny, not less.
No. Specialists are not immune from quackery because their field of study is narrow. She can be a great neuroscientist (who is currently promoting a junk supplement to boost brain power) and not understand immunology the way an expert in that area would. She has not studied infectious diseases. She has not studied vaccines and immunizations.
Nope. She has extreme veiws on parenting, including, apparently, that you should simply let your child die or become severly injured instead of getting a c-section since the latter are “unnatural” and nature should just take its course.
She is not really a “scientist” as she does not actually do research or work in the field of neuroscience, other than shilling supplements on television. Her PhD does not make her immune from criticism any more than my MD make me immune from criticism. .
So true. It’s always refreshing to hear this reminder from someone who actually does have a PhD or MD, especially on the internet. It keeps things in perspective.
You would be shocked at how many Ph.D-possessing MAGAT’s I have met (not through my preference).
She’s a terrible person. She penned an op Ed in The NY Times in 2017 regarding Harvey Weinstein. “Those of us in Hollywood who don’t represent an impossible standard of beauty have the ‘luxury’ of being overlooked,” she said, “and, in many cases, ignored by men in power unless we can make them money.” She then implied that she’s been “overlooked” by predators because she has always dressed modestly and never acted flirtatiously with men.” She essentially blamed women for men’s behavior.
As I said above, this was – and IS – awful. The fact that she then played it off like “…Well, that’s not what I meant at all!…” made it even worse. Ugh.
“My kids might not have all the vaccines but they are vaccinated” what the eff? She sounds totally antivaxxer. Not fully vaccinate your kids should be pursuit like it’s a crime.
I grew up in Mexico during the 90s and the gov would vaccinate us kids at school. We would just go home and comment to our parents “guess what? Today I got vaccinated at school” . No one said “but my freedom”
She blamed and shamed Harvey Weinstein’s victims and attacked Ariana Grande for wearing lingerie and asking :
“Why is she in her underwear on this billboard though? And if she has a talent (is she a singer?), then why does she have to sell herself in lingerie? I mean, I know that society is patriarchal and women are expected to be sexy and sexually available no matter what we do in society, but I guess now I need to explain that to my sons?”
Then had the gall to try and gaslight folks by Tweeting that it was just social commentary and to have a sense of humor.
I cannot stand that horrible woman and her arrogant a**
The Ariana Grande thing was gross AF.
That blog post also said this:
“There is one for Ariana Grande, and I will go ahead and admit I have no idea who she is or what she does. Based on the billboard, she sells lingerie. Or stiletto heels. Or plastic surgery because every woman over 22 wishes she has that body, I’m sure.”
She’s horrible and arrogant and has a huge chip on her shoulder about female attractiveness and equates it to being a character flaw. Her opinions are toxic and she tries to cloak them in feminism.
Her smug comments on how her “modest clothing” and “not flirting with men” keep her safe from rape and sexual harassment make me infuriated.
Hey bitch, the first time I was sexually assaulted I was a child wearing a long sleeved flannel nightgown that went from my collarbone to the floor.
Years later I was sexually harassed and targeted by a stalker at work wearing the following outfit every day: a yellow hard hat, a winter coat, a reflective vest, safety glasses, work gloves, baggy sweatpants, and steel-toed boots.
Obviously she knows fuck all about the lives of ordinary working class women, because working class women often wear work clothing that is way more “modest” and “unsexy” than anything she’s ever put on in her life, but still manage to be harassed and assaulted at work at tremendous rates.
FUCK YOU Bialik and those who act smug about what they wear making them perfect and if we got raped or harrassed we must not have been as modestly perfect as them.
She was a child and adolescent star for many years so I actually would be surprised if she hadn’t been harassed at some point. Maybe this toxic viewpoint is her way to try to take control back but that doesn’t make it okay to impose on all the rest of us and victim blame.
Isn’t she one of the assholes posting about how much her “heart hurts” because of Afghanistan. Burqas are literally selling out there, yet the Taliban are going door to door seizing pubescent girls as “wives” for their adult male fighters. Maybe Mayim can privilege-splain to us how those girls can avoid being kidnapped and a lifetime of forced marriage and marital rape by being more modest and not flirting.
Because blaming rapists instead of victims for rape might just be a bridge too far for her.
i am so sorry that happened to you lola – it’s evil for people like mayim to blame victims for the crimes of their attackers
I’m sorry you went through that Lola.
Victim-blamers often find ways to tell the world that they’ve cornered the market on being logical and just getting things back to the balance that’s needed. The things you mentioned are some of the things people just don’t seem to think about when going on about immodest women putting themselves out there and needing to take accountability for abuse and harassment though.
I am sorry, but I am starting to actively hate the Jeopardy executive team. Bialik did not have people get up a petition with tens of thousands of signatures asking for LeVar. Apparently the Jeopardy producers are stoo-pit? racist? enough to just keep plugging their ears and going LA LA LA LA as everything asks for LeVar putting Bialik in just feels like insult to injury.
I’m still sending up a prayer to the tv gods: May LeVar get the permanent slot, may 20 years go by, and may this be the story of how some bad decisions led to the right now.
What on Earth is she teaching her sons, if she believes that “immodest clothing” and “flirtation” is the cause of rape, rather than rapists making a choice to rape? What will they feel entitled to do if they decide that some random woman just living her life is flirting with them? Or if it’s a woman who, like most, doesn’t dress in Mayim’s preferred style of a 1980s grandmother? I would be terrified to let any daughters of mine spend time around her sons if this is what she’s teaching them.
You know exactly what she’s teaching her sons 🙁
One of these days, we’re going to have a discussion about toxic Boy Moms.
I am totally pro vaccine!!! My children’s pediatrician is also my next-door neighbor, so we have a very relaxed relationship. There have been times where I have asked her if we could just separate the various vaccinations by a week or two and she said that is perfectly fine and that alot of parents do that because sometimes 2 or 3 shots in one sitting seems like alot to a parent and can scare a child. But the children absolutely end up completely vaccinated in a timely manner. I wonder if this is what Mayim meant but just didn’t express it clearly. Also, sometimes you feel a certain way 10 years ago and change your mind over time and experience. But she seems too educated in the medical field to be antivaxx to me and she has stated that she is pro vaccine since. As for the weinstein and grande stuff…that just seems like an incredibly ignorant point of view. Otherwise, I loved her as Amy on TBBT.
There are nurses refusing to get vaccinated and who head up the anti vax movement. So education has no bearing on anything here.
She still has that awful Miranda knockoff show Call Me Kat and I assume that is whats keeping her from taking over all of Jeopardy.
As for the vax/anti-vax/selective-vax saga and all her other backpaddling, she sure is the personification of the Groucho Marx line: Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.
It is produced by Miranda ,same as The Office the British writers modify their shows for the US
The producers really don’t want black people hosting, huh? Not the black woman Alex wanted; not the black man the fans wanted. I’ll miss Jeopardy, but boy bye!!!
Back in the day, she was a HUGE mom-shamer to anyone who didn’t practice her extreme brand of holistic medicine and attachment parenting. She also neglects to mention that her kids are only vaccinated because she wanted to take them to visit abroad and it was a travel requirement. I worked in academia for years and an advanced degree is no protection from extremism, quackery or prejudice.
I’m curious to see her as host, at least she’s got the education to be a decent host.
That said, I think Rick Mercer would be AMAZING as host. Jann Arden was trying to get this going on Twitter and it’s a brilliant idea.
Mayim, I have ALWAYS dressed modestly, even when I was a young, hot 20-something. And guess what? I was sexually abused several times starting when I was 13 years old, flat as a board and had all the sexual attractiveness of a potato. Blaming how women dress for being sexually abused is a low, LOW blow, and back-tracking and changing your vaccination stance to suit your employment opportunities is equally sh*tty. F*ck off.
Sending good thoughts out to you jaded.
I was also assaulted, but by a trusted friend who held my hair back when I was too drunk 1 night. Dressed in a long sleeve and jeans. And beaten for trying to resist. I flaunted nothing.
She is one of many women that feel because it never happened to her it must be some fault to the victim. Or because she Is captain hindsight and could figure a way to blame the victim. Never the rapist though. How could it be their fault?
I had forgotten how Mayim can be pretty problematic. Like others have said, emotionally abusing and inciting violence against women by blaming sexual (and other) abuse on a lack of female modesty is very LOW. Whether individuals are being blamed for something that actually happened to them, or whether they’re being blamed for it happening to others based on how they dress. The demonizing and dehumanizing way women are discussed for not wanting to be modest is part of the problem too. It’s easy to try to insist that we can slut-shame without being complicit in victim-blaming, but we can’t. We can’t pretend the two aren’t connected.
Yes. All the hate to Mayim’s stupidity and anti-victim bullshit, but just needed to say don’t take away that Ph.D. she earned and neglect to call her Doctor, any more than you do it for the First Lady. Not on my watch.