Who doesn’t love a good episode of Jeopardy every now and then (or let’s be honest, every night)? Recently, our beloved host of the popular game show Alex Trebek sat down with TMZ’s Harvey Levin to talk about who could replace him once his contract expires in 2020.
On Levin’s FOX news show OBJECTified, Trebek explained there was more than a 50 percent chance he wouldn't return to the game show, and named the former civil rights lawyer and highly melanated Laura Coates as one who could take his place. The host also mentioned Alex Faust, the play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Kings.
“There is an attorney, Laura Coates,” Trebek told Levin. “She’s African-American, and she appears on some of the cable news shows from time to time.”
Imagine! A Black woman hosting Jeopardy. Talk about lit. But who is Laura Coates?
A graduate of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the University of Minnesota Law School, Coates is currently a CNN Legal Analyst and talk show host of The Laura Coates Show on SiriusXM UrbanView channel, where she “edutains” her audiences with conversations on politics, law, and pop culture by way of charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent.
In addition to her role on CNN and her SiriusXM show, Coates is a lawyer, author, law professor, and mother. She is author of You Have the Right: A Constitutional Guide to Policing the Police, which she released in 2016 explaining and advocating for citizens’ rights and accountability in law enforcement.
The George Washington University School of Law adjunct professor went straight to Twitter to share her excitement:
Incredibly honored & humbled @Jeopardy Alex Trebek 1) knows who I am 2) thinks I'd be a great host of my fave game show ever that I grew up watching w/ my family & still watch w/ my own kids (who saw him say this & now think I'm a genius) #Dying https://t.co/qdMxWc9g5e via @TMZ
— Laura Coates (@thelauracoates) July 30, 2018
What’s even more exciting is the prospect of a fresh new audience to this long-running and beloved show. Imagine young people of color seeing Coates’ face on the screen on a show where she would have no problem “edutaining?"
That has the potential to be pretty inspiring for the next generation. That’s why we are #TeamLaura.
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