Stephen Colbert and numerous other celebrities have weighed in on social media to relay their support for LeVar Burton as the new host of Jeopardy! The search for Alex Trebek’s replacement has been a relatively low-key one since his passing in November of 2020, with several guest hosts having taken on the role over the past few months.
Yet regardless of how quietly the search for a fitting new face of the acclaimed game show has been, fans are completely aware of every possibility and rumor. In fact, the search for a new host has served to underscore just how valuable Trebek’s presence was to the show. For over thirty years, Trebek challenged guests and audiences alike with a steady stream of trivia. When it was announced in 2019 that the famed host was sick with pancreatic cancer, fans couldn’t imagine the series continuing on without Trebek. There’s no question that everything from his delivery of questions to his presence was completely in line with the type of program that Jeopardy! is. And of course, most fans will likely argue that the show became what it currently is because of Trebek’s inimitable leadership.
Most recently, however, fans of LeVar Burton have been pushing for the former Reading Rainbow host and Star Trek: The Next Generation star to be officially chosen as the new host of Jeopardy! A fan petition has begun to circulate online, personally endorsed by Burton. With fans on his side and his own apparent interest in taking the job quite real, various celebrities are now also taking to Twitter to share their support for Burton as the game show’s new host. The Late Show host Stephen Colbert and iconic comedian Dick Van Dyke are just two of these supporters, as can be seen from the encouraging Tweets below:
With this much support behind him, it very well could be that Burton is named the next Jeopardy! host. As host of Reading Rainbow, the 64-year-old actor played a major role in the childhoods of so many, creating a warm and inviting persona that felt effortlessly entwined with the process of educating viewers. In that sense alone, Burton is more than qualified for Jeopardy! The game show has already had some slight problems with its search for a guest host, thanks in part to insensitive Tweets that former Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings had posted. But while guest hosts have played an important part in keeping the show going immediately following Trebek’s death, it’s hard to imagine any of those choices going on to become the permanent host of one of the most popular game shows of all time.
If there is a barrier to Burton becoming the new host of Jeopardy! it’s that for some, he’ll always be Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation or simply LeVar from Reading Rainbow. One look at Colbert’s Twitter message is enough to make that clear. True, Colbert is honoring Burton’s past work with the Tweet, but more than anything, perhaps, it proves that it’s time for Burton to take on another sizeable challenge. In that sense, there can be no better undertaking for him than as the new host of Jeopardy!
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