During the cold open for this past weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live, the show took a random crack at the Jeopardy! hosting scandal, and Mayim Bialik apparently loved every minute of it. The sketch centered around a press conference for the recently fired Los Angeles Raiders coach Jon Gruden where owner Mark Davis (played by Alex Moffat) revealed that he’d already found a replacement coach: LeVar Burton.
Played by Kenan Thompson, Burton took the podium and immediately announced “Suck on that, Mayim!” a direct reference to the fiasco on Jeopardy! where Burton was passed over as Alex Trebek’s replacement. Despite dredging up the contentious host search, which caused Bialik some social media backlash, the Big Bang Theory star appreciated the shout out.
“One of the highest honors – being mentioned on @nbcsnl!!!! Love this!!!!” Bialik tweeted.
One of the highest honors – being mentioned on @nbcsnl !!!! Love this !!!! #SNL pic.twitter.com/NtMc7yleXI
— Mayim Bialik (@missmayim) October 17, 2021
Bialik found herself chained to the Jeopardy! scandal after she was picked to host primetime specials while former executive producer Mike Richards was chosen as Trebek’s successor in a highly controversial decision. Richards would step down as host and be fired from the show not long after. According to reports, Bialik was actually the top choice to be the permanent host, but she was unable to commit to the production schedule. However, following Richards removal, Bialik has been showing signs that she may be interested in becoming the new face of Jeopardy! after all.
(Via Mayim Bialik on Twitter)