Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik is confronting criticisms she’s received about comments she made regarding vaccines from years ago that she says people incorrectly point to as evidence that she is against them, Newsweek reports.
It all stems from a passage from her 2012 book Beyond the Sling, in which she wrote that she and her husband “made an informed decision not to vaccinate our children, but this is a very personal decision that should be made only after sufficient research, which today is within reach of every parent who seeks to learn about their child’s health regardless of their medical knowledge or educational status.”
Shortly after Bialik was announced as one of the permanent hosts of Jeopardy!, she was hit with scrutiny over the comments, despite making clarifying remarks since then saying she isn’t against vaccines.
The criticism has proved unrelenting, however, so she recently sought to address it once and for all. Speaking to the Associated Press Bialik said:
“I don’t regret that at the time I wrote a book about parenting, my kids were young, they hadn’t received all their vaccines. Now I’ve been very public and declared that I am a vaccinated person, we’re a vaccinated family, we’re all vaccinated for COVID. That’s part of the challenge of being a public person, and the court of public opinion is extremely significant. I’m grateful to Sony and to Jeopardy! for believing in me as a host right now, with the ability to do my job with all the other things aside.”
This isn’t the first time a newly minted Jeopardy! host has been mired in controversy, either. The now-ousted Mike Richards lost his post as host, as well as being canned as executive producer, after offensive remarks he made in a now-defunct podcast resurfaced.
Bialik will now share co-hosting duties all-time Jeopardy! champ Ken Jennings.