Levar Burton

Acting icon LeVar Burton is feeling the love from legions of fans as a petition has been launched by fans of Jeopardy!, calling for Burton to be named host the long running game show following the death of Alex Trebek.

Depending on a person’s age, Burton is best known for hosting the PBS classic Reading Rainbow, starring on Star Trek: The Next Generation or playing the iconic role of Kunta Kinte in the 1977 mini-series Roots.

The petition has nearly 50,000 signatures and growing.

“Between hosting 21 seasons of the educational Reading Rainbow, playing the brainiac engineer Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: the Next Generation, and filling the roll of Kunta Kinte in the ever important mini-series Roots, LeVar Burton has inspired and shaped the minds of several generations of trivia-loving nerds,” the petition states. “This petition is to show Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. and producer Harry Friedman just how much love the public has for Burton, and how much we’d all love to see him as the next host of Jeopardy!”

Burton even shared the link to the petition on his Twitter page, writing “Even if nothing comes from it, I can’t tell how much I appreciate all y’alls love and support!”

-theGrio