British comedian-turned-talk show host John Oliver has spoken out against newly appointed Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik.
The Emmy winner took aim at the new host on his show Last Week Tonight over Bialik’s past controversial remarks about vaccines.
Bialik, formerly of The Big Bang Theory, has replaced Mike Richards on the game show. The latter stepped down from hosting and executive producing after revelations of comments about women and others from his past came to the surface.
Bialik is currently set to co-host the show along with champion Ken Jennings through to the end of 2021.
Oliver wove his remarks about Jeopardy! into a broader speech on the recent American immigration scandal in Del Rio.
“It’s not great when our process for deciding who gets released and who gets expelled is as haphazard as the process in finding the new host of Jeopardy!,” he said.
“And, by the way, great job so far, guys. You dodged giving that dude the job permanently and now we’ve got somebody absolutely free of controversy, Mayim Bialik. A person I think is great because I don’t have Google.”
Bialik made her comments about vaccinations in her 2012 book Beyond The Sling, in which she claimed that her children had not been vaccinated. She later clarified that they had, in fact, received their vaccines in a 2020 YouTube video.
In light of the pandemic, Bialik confirmed in an interview with ABC News that she and her family have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
