Mike Richards is out as the Executive Producer of Wheel/J!

The Mike Richards firing fascinates me because it’s another situation where the executives in charge—Sony Pictures C.E.O. Tony Vinciquerra and Sony TV’s Ravi Ahuja—clearly wanted to keep a valued talent despite the deafening criticism of his past behavior, yet they finally were forced to let him go when it became clear the noise wouldn’t die down.

I know, everyone’s trying to navigate these new cultural waters, but it’s pretty clear this situation was botched from the time that Richards was announced as the new Jeopardy! host without having been properly vetted. Richards was already going to face scrutiny over his role in the search process to replace the beloved Alex Trebek. Then, when the lawsuits and the podcast comments came out, he lost the host gig, but Vinciquerra and Ahuja—seemingly unable to project how this would all play out—let him keep his E.P. job on Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. Predictably, the staffs of both shows were upset, angry fans screamed on social media, and the press began digging up more dirt. Late last week, it finally became clear to them that the situation had overwhelmed the shows, and Richards would have to go—something even a casual observer knew would happen the moment The Ringer published those offensive comments in the first place.

I’m told Vinciquerra and Ahuja called Richards together on Sunday night and solemnly asked him to resign. Richards then hired litigator Bryan Freedman, as I told you last week he might. It’s still early in the negotiations, but Freedman is already blaming Sony for mishandling the situation so badly that his client went from three jobs to zero and may have trouble working in the industry. Sony and Freedman declined to comment, but I’m told the conversation has now turned to Sony’s options with Richards. Three scenarios are on the table.

Pay him to go away: Richards’ deal to host Jeopardy! is said to have been worth $3 million-plus per year for two seasons guaranteed, with Sony holding options for two additional seasons. Not a bad payday, but significantly less than what Trebek made. That’s in addition to Richards’ continuing salary for executive producing Jeopardy! and Wheel (he has three years left on his E.P. deals), plus bonuses he was in line to make for expanding both franchises into primetime and elsewhere. Doing the math, and accepting Freedman’s argument that Sony is at least partially to blame for how this played out (Sony lawyers would obviously disagree, citing Richards’ own conduct), Sony could be on the hook for an eight-figure payout to make Richards go away. That’s the kind of charge that makes Japan take notice.​

Keep him in the family: Sony could put Richards on a new contract, giving him a consulting gig or tasking him with creating new shows. That would be potentially cheaper, and perhaps allow a path for him to return to producing at some point. Importantly, it would also prevent Richards from criticizing Sony publicly. Otherwise, he could probably do an Oprah sit-down or another high-profile interview to apologize, commit to reform himself, and tell a side of the story that he wasn’t able to tell when Sony was calling the shots. (If I was advising him, I’d suggest a nothing-off-limits podcast interview with Claire McNear of The Ringer.) Obviously, keeping Richards at Sony in any capacity might not be acceptable to those internally and externally who want him purged from the company, and it’s probably not worth it for Sony to risk yet another blowup and backtrack. So I’m betting this doesn’t happen.​

Cut him off: Sony can simply terminate Richards, claim he brought this all upon himself, and dare him to sue. After all, Richards ultimately brought this upon himself, and maybe Sony has additional information that could be used to convince him to just walk away. But I doubt it, and that strategy is problematic because Sony is on record saying Richards did not put his hand on the scale in the host search process, and it defended his role in the old lawsuits and the podcast comments before deciding it couldn’t “minimize the disruption and internal difficulties,” as executive Suzanne Prete wrote to the staff in announcing the move. (I’m still not sure why Vinciquerra and Ahuja made Prete send that email, rather than, you know, the guys who hired Richards in the first place.) I haven’t seen Richards’ contract, but as loathsome as his comments were, I doubt their revelation breached it.

Bottom line: He’ll get paid, probably to go away. And yet it still won’t resolve a big question being debated in the crisis P.R. world. This scandal exploded in part due to Richards’ past comments but also because Jeopardy! fans felt cheated by this smug insider who they perceived to have rigged the process for himself. So when the backlash began, why didn’t Sony just announce an independent investigation into the Jeopardy! host search and Richards’ past behavior? That would have bought some time, allowed critics to feel heard, and provided a path for Richards to be “exonerated” if the investigator found he did not influence the search improperly. It might not have saved him—the comments were pretty bad, as are the allegations that have since come out—but it would have at least given him a chance.

Instead, Sony initially did nothing, then prolonged the backlash by dragging out Richards’ eventual firing over two excruciating weeks. Now it must find a new host while likely writing him a big check to do nothing.