‘Jeopardy’ fans unhappy after show included a gender-related question that many found too 'woke'

"Jeopardy!" has been popular for decades, and Ken Jennings has been loved by fans since his days as a contestant, but his stint as a host has been marred by some controversies. He has had to apologize for a sexist clue and comment by another contestant, and there was a lot of speculation about his co-host Mayim Bialik's exit as well. The show also came under fire across social media last year over the inclusion of a clue regarding neopronouns. One of the players, Cris Pannull, faced a clue that read "xem, xyrs, xemself," and when the contestant answered with "What are pronouns?" he was awarded the points. While the show quickly moved forward, conservative viewers of the show took issue with the clue. They blasted the show on social media for allegedly spreading the 'woke pronouns', which many didn't appreciate.

As Jennings awarded the money to the contestant, he corrected the player, saying, "Those are pronouns, neopronouns."

The prefix "neo" means "new," and the pronouns mentioned in the clue are typically used to avoid the traditional pronouns "he" or "she" as per Fox News. While these gender-neutral pronouns have been adopted by people and many platforms, including Instagram, the use of these pronouns is highly contested by the conservative population. 

Thus, such viewers were surprised to see a clue about neopronouns on the popular game show, and they accused it of alienating a large section of the population.

Viewers of "Jeopardy!" took to X (formerly Twitter), questioning the show's choices. "Jeopardy asked about xem/xyrs/xemself 'pronouns' during last night's show. How would you answer this?" @EndWokeness wrote in a post sparking a heated discussion. Followers of the account came up with various jibes to express their outrage. "What is stuff said by stupid woke people?" wrote @realchuckrambo. "What is nonsense?" added @frogman263. 

Many vowed to never watch the show again for using the set of neopronouns. "I will answer by not watching Jeopardy ever again," wrote @kellydbelew. "Well, scratch @Jeopardy! Off my watch list. I will watch, with glee, their coming Bud Light-ification," added @KenWNichols1. 

"I’m old school not using no damn pronouns they are two genders male or female what you are born is what you stay," @Black1964Tammy wrote explaining the issue with the clue. "This answer was rough, I am to the right, my spouse is to the left, we watched it together… Hilarity ensued… “Neo” pronouns, Ken says," added, @Jimmy_Deeee.

While some social media users blasted the show for "going woke," "Jeopardy!" seemed to get the last laugh. According to Newsweek, the show's Instagram account saw tremendous growth during the backlash.

Citing data from the social media analytics website, Social Blade, the publication claimed that the account gained more than 3,000 followers in the days after the episode was aired on TV. It noted that this was a significant increase compared to previous days.