Longtime Wheel of Fortune gameshow host Pat Sajak announced his retirement from the iconic program earlier this month.
“Well, the time has come,” Sajak said. “I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last. It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all.”
Sony Pictures Television, the company that runs the show, didn’t waste any time in announcing earlier this week Sajak’s successor, Ryan Seacrest.
“I’m truly humbled to be stepping into the footsteps of the legendary Pat Sajak,” Seacrest tweeted. “I can say, along with the rest of America, that it’s been a privilege and pure joy to watch Pat and Vanna (White) on our television screens for an unprecedented 40 years, making us smile every night and feel right at home with them.”
He continued:
“Pat, I love the way you’ve always celebrated the contestants and made viewers at home feel at ease,” he added. “I look forward to learning everything I can from you during this transition.”
Yet not everyone is feeling so convivial towards the politically conservative Sajak, who serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees for Hillsdale College, as well as a regular contributor to National Review.
Writing in the New Republic, Prem Thakker trots out all kinds of attacks against the gameshow host.
“You may want to tap the brakes on pouring one out for the familiar face,” Thakker warns. “Turns out when he wasn’t busy adorning our television screens, he was on the front lines of advancing a right-wing agenda. Sajak has for decades advanced causes that have rejected the teaching of American history, peddled out-of-touch climate denial, and dished out corporate favors while villainizing spending money on the people who need it,” the liberal columnist lamented.
Tells us how you really feel, Mr. Thakker.
Once more, a liberal columnist is accusing a conservative of the very thing his fellow progressives do all the time.
By affiliating so strongly and enthusiastically with Hillsdale College, and writing fulsome and well-reasoned pieces for National Review, Pat Sajak is demonstrating his commitment to advocating for an unapologetic appreciation of American history. He loves his country, and he’s not ashamed to admit it.
“The Wright brothers, what was it, 1903, they got about 20 feet in the air and went about 180 feet,” he once reflected. “Sixty-six years later we put a man on the moon and brought him back. Oh, and in the meantime, we won two world wars and fought a Great Depression.”
Nothing lasts forever, of course. Pat will remain at the Wheel’s helm for one more year, after which time he’ll no doubt continue advocating for the principles and issues he cares so deeply about.
Photo from Getty Images.
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