7 Times ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Went From Game Show to Controversy Target

Wheel of Fortune often has fans spinning out over one issue or another. Ryan Seacrest is too strict a host, some say. The puzzles are too hard, per others, or the puzzles are too easy. There are too many $40K Bonus Round prizes, the complaints continue, and those ding-dong Christmas ornaments are too big.

But those quibbles pale in comparison to the PR flaps presented chronologically below. From the past half-century of Wheel — and from behind and in front of the cameras — these, in our book, are the biggest of the game show’s controversies.

2021: Executive producer Mike Richards’ comments get him fired from Wheel of Fortune

In August 2021, Sony Pictures Television announced Mike Richards would be the new permanent host of Jeopardy! while continuing in his role as executive producer of both that show and Wheel. By the end of the month, however, Richards had been terminated from all of those positions after offensive and disparaging remarks Richards had made about Jewish people and women more than a decade prior resurfaced.

“I’m writing to let you know that Mike will no longer be serving as EP of Wheel and Jeopardy! effective immediately,” Suzanne Prete, then VP of business and strategy for Sony, said in a message to employees at the time, per Variety. “We had hoped that when Mike stepped down from the host position at Jeopardy! it would have minimized the disruption and internal difficulties we have all experienced these last few weeks. That clearly has not happened.”

2022: Online bullying among Wheel watchers reaches a breaking point

In March 2022, then-Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak called foul on fans making fun of a trio of contestants who took 10 attempts to solve a puzzle missing four letters.

“It always pains me when nice people come on our show to play a game and win some money and maybe fulfill a lifelong dream and are then subject to online ridicule when they make a mistake, or something goes awry,” Sajak wrote on Twitter, now X, at the time, per Deadline. “I’ve been praised online for ‘keeping it together’ and not making fun of the players. Truth is, all I want to do is help to get them through it and convince them that those things happen even to very bright people.”

The host urged social media users to “have a little heart” and empathize with contestants. “Mocking them online and calling them names? These are good people in a bad situation under a kind of stress that you can’t begin to appreciate from the comfort of your couch,” he wrote.

2022: Wheel presents a “Rhyme Time” puzzle solution with a racist history

Wheel of Fortune, perhaps unknowingly, used a childhood rhyme with a racist history as a “Rhyme Time” puzzle solution in September 2022. The solution “EENIE MEENIE MINY MOE CATCH A TIGER BY THE TOE” refers to a seemingly innocuous children’s counting-out game. But as Mental Floss pointed out, both an 1888 book by Henry Carrington Bolton and an 1891 book by Walter Gregor show that the next verse — nowadays recited as “Catch a tiger by the toe” — once contained a racist slur.

“I wonder if @WheelofFortune realizes the rhyme time has racist roots? #dobetter,” a viewer tweeted when that episode aired, per The U.S. Sun.

“Not a good look @WheelofFortune — racist puzzle tonight? Do some research next time,” said another.

2023: Vanna White’s reported pay gap angers supporters

In June 2023 came a TMZ report that Wheel of Fortune cohost Vanna White was negotiating a salary bump to continue her letter-flipping on the show. The site reported White had been earning $3 million a year without a raise for the last 18 years, while Sajak was reportedly earning around $15 million per year. White’s attorney was angling for her to get half of Sajak’s pay, but negotiations with Sony were “very difficult,” a source told TMZ.

“Vanna White deserves a raise and back pay,” one Twitter user wrote at the time.

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Another tweeted, “Pat Sajak should’ve made sure all these years that Vanna was getting regular raises. If they had negotiated as a pair, she wouldn’t be treated the way she is now. I hate this show anyway, but Vanna White should be treated respectfully.”

Two and a half months later, TMZ posted an update: White had signed on for two more years as Wheel cohost with what the site called a “substantial pay increase.”

2024: Discrimination complaints hit Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!

Staffers from Wheel and Jeopardy! filed employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation complaints against Sony Pictures Entertainment in October 2024. Former production executive Shelley Balance Ellis and former clearance and licensing department employee Monique Diaz sent their complaints to the California Civil Rights Department, echoing similar unfair labor practice charges they submitted to the National Labor Relations Board, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“Both workers allege they and their colleagues were terminated because they objected to racial discrimination in the workplace, the massive pay inequity Ms. Diaz experienced, the glass ceiling, and other bias, Ms. Ballance Ellis faced as an older Black woman,” Hillary Benham-Baker and Peter Romer-Friedman, attorneys for the former employees, said in a news release.

Sony denied the allegations, saying the layoffs were not retaliatory but instead the result of a reorganization to meet business needs. Any settlement the parties reached has not been publicized widely.

2024: CBS and Sony’s legal war over the game shows commences

A week later, Sony Pictures Television sued CBS, accusing the syndication subsidiary CBS Media Ventures of breaching its contract for Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Specifically, Sony argued that CBS wasn’t fulfilling the terms of the companies’ domestic agreement and that CBS had made unauthorized international agreements. Then CBS countersued, alleging Sony’s suit was an attempt to take over distribution rights. And when Sony informed CBS of its intention to take over the syndication of the two game shows in February 2025, CBS filed a temporary restraining order, per THR.

Finally, after a year of back-and-forth, Sony and CBS reached a settlement in November 2025. Under the terms of the settlement, Sony took over international distribution in December 2025 and will take over domestic distribution after the 2027–2028 season. Sony will also handle the shows’ marketing, promotions, and affiliate relations after the 2025–2026 season, while CBS will manage all advertising sales through the 2029–2030 season.

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2025: “What the Fun?” category angers conservatives

One Million Moms, a subsidiary of the “pro-family” American Family Association, called for a Wheel boycott in November 2025 after the show introduced a category called “What the Fun?” in a playful riff on a more profane interjection.

“It is not the show it was with this implication of the f-word” One Million Moms stated in its petition. “This is unnecessary in any program, especially one marketed for the entire family. Parents will have to explain to their children that the primetime program they were once allowed to watch is no longer a clean show. Wheel of Fortune has deliberately chosen to include controversial categories instead of wholesome ones.”

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