Related Articles
LeVar Burton has taken to Twitter to let it be known that he would like to be the next host of Jeopardy, tersely signal-boosting a Change.org petition to that effect started by fans. The petition, which was started back in November, is as of this writing now experiencing a resurgence likely due to Burton’s bump, and also climbing steadily towards its goal of 200,000 so far digital signatures as of this writing.
Since former host Alex Trebek’s death in November, a rotation of guest hosts have temporarily stepped in to command the podium and take contestant answers phrased in the form of questions. The current guest host is Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who started on April 5 and will steer 10 episodes. Future guest hosts afterwards will include TV personalities Katie Couric and Dr. Mehmet Oz, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, actress Mayim Bialik, and Today host Savannah Guthrie. While no official successor has yet been named, long-time Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings had stepped in first as interim host.
After a surge of 11,000 signatures in less than three days back when it was first posted online, the petition organizers said it was started “hoping maybe we’d eventually be able to eventually get a few thousand signatures to show the producers how much love there is for LeVar.” In addition to the love, it’s also a pretty forehead-slapping great and obvious choice to give Burton the gig. The actor has long since broadened his platform into a proven education-minded performer, hosting Reading Rainbow for 23 years.
