Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

LeVar Burton Slams Journalist For Assuming He'd Take 'Jeopardy!' Gig 'In A Heartbeat'

LeVar Burton Slams Journalist For Assuming He'd Take 'Jeopardy!' Gig 'In A Heartbeat'
Tommaso Boddi/WireImage/Getty Images

LeVar Burton has had it with the Jeopardy! hosting conversation, and he's putting anyone who doubts him on notice.

Burton has been the Jeopardy! fandom's #1 choice for new host since the moment iconic host Alex Trebek passed away last year, especially for people who grew up with him as the host of the children's show Reading Rainbow back in the day.


But in the wake of Burton being passed over in favor of the scandal-plagued Mike Richards, whose tenure lasted just one day due to multiple allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination, Burton has made it clear he is done with the show.

And when Los Angeles Times journalist Stephen Battaglio tweeted he believed Burton would take the gig "in a heartbeat" if asked, Burton set him straight immediately.

See the tweet below.


The exchange comes on the heels of an interview with The Daily Show's Trevor Noah in which Burton described how his feelings about the Jeopardy! hosting gig changed after he wasn't offered the job.
Burton told Noah:
"…[T]hey say be careful of what you wish for, because what I found out is that it wasn't the thing that I wanted after all..."
"The opportunities that have come my way as a result of not getting that gig, I couldn't have dreamt it up."

After being called out for presuming to know Burton's feelings toward the show, Battaglio apologized to Burton.

But when he responded tersely to a fan of Burton's who pushed back further, Burton came back to put him in his place again.


After telling him "No, Stephen... you don't get a pass," Burton went on to explain he'd prefer Battaglio keep his name out of his mouth.

"I have a perspective on this entire J! saga which I intend to share at a time of my choosing, probably my memoirs. As a journalist I hope you can appreciate that any and all speculation about my motives or intentions is simply uninformed."

Soon, the Burton-Battaglio back-and-forth was being screenshot and presented as a lesson for how not to conduct yourself on Twitter.


And Burton put the whole thing to bed once and for all with a perfect one-sentence clapback.


Burton's handling of Battaglio had people on Twitter cheering.










The producers of Jeopardy! have yet to find a new host for the show, which will be helmed by former champion Ken Jennings and Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik while they continue the search.

More from Trending

Donald Trump; Karoline Leavitt
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Trump Grosses Out The Internet With His Latest Fawning Praise For Karoline Leavitt

President Donald Trump has people cringing after he heaped fawning praise on White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's "face" and "lips" in remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday.

Trump and reporters were traveling back to the U.S. from the Middle East, where Trump celebrated his brokered peace deal in Gaza, which resulted in the return of Israeli hostages who'd been held by Hamas for two years.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Trump Blasted After Bizarrely Claiming That Watergate Was A 'Hoax' In Unhinged Rant

MAGA Republican President Donald Trump has a lot on his plate.

There's the GOP-created government shutdown, increasing national and international backlash over the Gestapo tactics employed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and dissension in the ranks of his MAGA minions over Trump's 2024 campaign promises to reveal and release all of the information Trump's Justice Department and the FBI compiled to indict and arrest Trump's longtime friend, registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in 2019.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elliot Page attends "A Deeper Love: The Story Of Miss Peppermint" Premiere during 2025 NewFest at SVA Theater.
Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

Elliot Page & Nolan Reunite

At this year’s New York Comic Con, Elliot Page reflected on reuniting with director Christopher Nolan more than a decade after starring in the 2010 sci-fi classic Inception. In that film, Page played Ariadne, a gifted architect who helps build dream worlds—a name that also nods to Greek mythology.

Now, Page is returning to the mythic realm as a new Ariadne in Nolan’s next epic, The Odyssey, slated for release in July 2026.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Donald Trump speaking to reporters
@Acyn/X

Trump Raises Eyebrows After Admitting That He Doesn't Think He's 'Heaven-Bound'

President Donald Trump raised eyebrows when he admitted to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Israel on Sunday that he's "not sure I’m going to be able to make heaven," prompting considerable mockery online.

Trump's remarks came just a couple of months after he sparked considerable ridicule by telling the press that bringing about an end to the war in Ukraine may help him with getting "to heaven." At the time, he said that if he successfully ends the war, "this will be one of the reasons" why he ends up there.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tallulah Willis; Perez Hilton
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for La DoubleJ x MOTHER; Denise Truscello/Getty Images for José Andrés Group

Tallulah Willis Calls Out Perez Hilton For Mocking Her Looks As Child And Nearly Driving Her To Suicide

There was a certain tone in celebrity tabloids that did not arise, but did flourish, in 2000s and 2010s internet rags. The tone was catty, invasive, and sometimes downright conspiratorial.

Much of that tone and its refinement and copycats can be traced to one blogger in particular: Perez Hilton. As society has moved on and many of his old targets have come into their own power or grown up to be adults, the blowback from all the things he said has been slow but steady.

Keep ReadingShow less