'Jeopardy!' Fans Continue to Root for LeVar Burton After Mike Richards Steps Down as Host

Amid Friday's news that Mike Richards has stepped down as host of Jeopardy!, fans of the long-running game show are continuing their calls for LeVar Burton to be named as Alex Trebek's replacement. Burton, the host of Reading Rainbow who also stars in Star Trek: The Next Generation, served as guest host for a single week during the recently-concluded season, though the permanent hosting position was ultimately granted to Richards.

Burton had long been a favorite among fans. Before his name was even added to the roster of guest hosts brought on amid Jeopardy!'s search for a permanent host, a fan-created online petition called on Jeopardy! producers to make him "the next host" of the show. The petition argued that "between hosting 21 seasons of the educational Reading Rainbow, playing the brainiac engineer Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: the Next Generation, and filling the role of Kunta Kinte in the ever-important mini-series Roots," Burton has "inspired and shaped the minds of several generations of trivia-loving nerds." It racked up more than 268,000 signatures. The calls for Burton to be named host only continued after he was confirmed to be among the more than a dozen guest hosts called on to take the stage as the game show began its search for a permanent host.

Despite the push to bring Burton on as permanent host, the position was ultimately handed to Richard's, Jeopardy!'s executive producer, on Aug. 11, with a poll later revealing that fans favored Burton for the roll far greater than they did Richards. Fast forward nine days, and Richards on Friday announced in a memo to the team he would be "stepping down as host effective immediately" amid the growing controversy surrounding him and a call from the Anti-Defamation League for an investigation into his "pattern" of offensive comments. With his exit, Jeopardy! will now "resume the search for a permanent syndicated host," with many fans keeping their fingers crossed that Burton will be selected for the role.