'Jeopardy' Host Mike Richards Apologizes After Past Sexist Comments Resurface: 'I Am Deeply Sorry'

New "Jeopardy!" host Mike Richards is "deeply sorry" for the inappropriate comments he made years ago on a podcast.

On Wednesday, Richards, who succeeds the late Alex Trebek, released a statement to Entertainment Weekly apologizing for the offensive comments he made about women, Jewish people, people with mental disabilities and more when he hosted "The Randumb Show" podcast from 2013 to 2014.

"It is humbling to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago," Richards said in his statement to EW. "Looking back now, there is no excuse, of course, for the comments I made on this podcast and I am deeply sorry."

He went on to say that the podcast was intended to be "a series of irreverent conversations between longtime friends who had a history of joking around." However, he said he realized that his "attempts to be funny and provocative were not acceptable" and that he 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," he added.

While serving as a co-executive producer of "The Price Is Right," a job he held before moving to "Jeopardy!," Richards taped 41 episodes of the podcast -- all of which were reviewed by media outlet The Ringer.

In one episode, Richards said one-piece bathing suits made women look "frumpy and overweight," The Ringer reported. He also reportedly asked a female co-host whether she had ever taken a "nude photo" of herself. When she said she had taken "cute pictures of herself," he replied, "What does that mean? Like booby pictures?"

According to The Ringer, Richards also once told a story about a former "Price Is Right" employee who liked to bake, saying, "We said that we were going to have to saw her out of her room because she was going to be so giant that she wouldn't be able to fit out the door."

Richards also referred to his female assistant as a "booth ho," in reference to her past work as a model at CES, and used derogatory terms for little people and people with mental disabilities, the outlet reported.

Richards also previously issued an apology after details of how he allegedly treated a "Price Is Right" model resurfaced from a discrimination lawsuit.

Model Brandi Cochran sued producers at FremantleMedia North America and "The Price Is Right" Productions in 2012 for workplace discrimination. She claimed that when she revealed she was pregnant, Richards told her, "Go figure, I fire five models. What are the odds one of the ones that I keep gets pregnant?"

She won the suit and received $7 million in damages. However, the decision was overturned the next year, and the case was eventually settled out of court.

Richards was also accused of wrongful constructive termination and retaliation by model Lanisha Cole in 2011. She accused him of treating her differently than the other models, causing her "great uncertainty." He was later dismissed as a defendant, and the case was settled out of court in 2013.

He released a memo to the "Jeopardy!" staffers earlier this month to address the complaints.

"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 said in the memo obtained by People. "I know firsthand how special it is to be a parent. It is the most important thing in the world to me. I would not say anything to disrespect anyone's pregnancy and have always supported my colleagues on their parenting journeys."

Richards was announced as the new host of "Jeopardy!" on Aug. 11, Us Weekly reported. He will be taking over the show from Trebek, who passed away at age 80 in November 2020 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.