LeVar Burton will be ‘Jeopardy!’ guest host
The 200,000-plus LeVar Burton boosters who signed a petition calling for him to be the new “Jeopardy!” host will get to see him try the job on for size.
Burton is among the final group of guest hosts for the quiz show, which lost its longtime host Alex Trebek to cancer last November and has put off announcing his successor.
Burton’s supporters seized the opportunity to launch an online petition for the actor, who starred on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Roots,” and was the host of “Reading Rainbow,” the children’s educational program.
In his career, Burton, 64, has “inspired and shaped the minds of several generations of trivia-loving nerds,” according to the petition that, as of Wednesday, had 246,000 and counting signers.
TV anchors and journalists George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts of ABC and David Faber of CNBC and sportscaster Joe Buck are the other temporary hosts getting one-week stints, Sony said Wednesday.
The air dates weren’t announced.
Publisher pauses shipping of Roth bio
The publisher of a bestselling biography about Philip Roth has temporarily halted the book’s shipping and promotion as its author, Blake Bailey, faces multiple allegations of sexual harassment and abuse.
“These allegations are serious. In light of them, we have decided to pause the shipping and promotion of ‘Philip Roth: The Biography’ pending any further information that may emerge,” according to a statement provided Wednesday to The Associated Press by W.W. Norton & Company.
Bailey, who has denied any wrongdoing, has already been dropped by his literary agency, the Story Factory.
Bailey was an 8th grade English teacher at the Lusher Middle School in New Orleans in the 1990s and numerous former students have spoken out recently, alleging inappropriate and manipulative behavior at the time and saying he later pursued sexual relationships.
Starting last weekend, on the Twitter feed and website of Reluctant Habits blogger Ed Champion, and continuing on social media and in the press, former students have been sharing stories, some saying that his behavior still haunts them.
Bailey, 57, is the author of acclaimed biographies of the authors John Cheever and Richard Yates, and he had been working on the Roth book since 2012.
Bailey had unlimited access to Roth’s papers and spent extensive time with the author, who died in 2018. He had given numerous promotional interviews for the book, which was released in early April.