Ken Jennings reacts to Mike Richards' hosting exit: I hate that Jeopardy! "has to be sullied by backstage drama"

The New York Times

Jennings, who remains a consulting producer on Jeopardy!, tells The New York Times that the show is "one of the last pure things in a troubled age. And I hate that something pure like that has to be sullied by backstage drama.” Jennings was part of a small gathering Thursday at a ceremony at Sony Pictures Studios renaming the Jeopardy! soundstage after Alex Trebek. According to The Times, Jennings and fellow former contestant and guest co-host Buzzy Cohen had planned to watch Richards' debut. But they were escorted from the soundstage to a nearby green room and reportedly told that Richards was too nervous to have them in studio.