'Jeopardy' viewers are calling out Ken Jennings for his 'inappropriate' joke that backfired
"Jeopardy!" may be known for exciting moments on TV but it has also landed in a soup over controversies such as one triggered by a sexist question for which the host Ken Jennings apologized as well. Now he himself is in hot water because of comments made during the holiday season. In the episode, the name of screenwriter and television producer, Rod Serling came up prompting Jennings to pass a remark on his Jewish heritage. While the breezing comment was made in good faith, it didn't sit well with the viewers who took to Reddit to complain.
During the episode, Jennings referred to Rod Serling as "another Jew born on Christmas." While it seemed like a trivia bit, one viewer took to the Reddit forum of the show, to express outrage. "Any reason why Ken Jennings felt [compelled] to say on Jeopardy tonight Rod Serling was another Jew born on Christmas. Was it meant to be funny, antisemitic or was he comparing him to Jesus? It was inappropriate and weird," the user wrote.
While a few other viewers found the comment to be strange as well, the majority was there to back the legendary champion of the game. Defending the host, one Redditor @ktappe wrote, "It wasn’t at all inappropriate. Please don’t state that as if it’s a cold, hard, agreed-upon fact."
Several more viewers chimed in to say that the original poster was reading into the comment a bit too much. "I thought it was an interesting, unexpected connection that explained why they were running that category on 12/25. I laughed out loud out of surprise at how Ken said it. So I'd say explanatory with a wink. It didn't strike me as anti-anything/anyone, just as something true," commented @flyingelevator.
While in this case, Jennings seems to be innocent, there have been other blunders where the host had to apologize. Earlier this year, Jennings had to make an apology on stage after sharing a sexist clue during a game. The controversial episode featured a category called “Complete the Rhyming Phrase.”
Competing for cash were contestants Ryan Heather, a health program director from Binghamton, four-day champion Will Wallace, and Ian Taylor. For the question in the special category, Jennings read out the clue, "Men seldom make passes at…”
While the first part of the clue was already a little sexist, the answer made things worse. Wallace buzzed in to answer and said out loud, "Girls who wear glasses." The response turned out to be correct but it was nothing to cheer about.
Ryan who was the only girl wearing glasses on the stage, clearly became uncomfortable after hearing the answer. “Yeah, a little problematic,” host Ken Jennings said. “Very,” Wallace went on to add.
While the two also apologized for the suggestive clue, fans weren't happy.
Fans complained that the phrase leaned into an outdated stereotype and someone should have flagged it before the clue made it onto the show. Even the contestant expressed displeasure over the issue.
“Unfortunately, there are still girls who are [in] middle school and they don’t want to wear their glasses and they’re losing out on their education,” Ryan said after the show, speaking to Pipe Dream, a Binghamton University student publication. She hoped that the producers of the family show would choose better clues and phrases in the future.
