Ken Jennings Apologizes For ‘Problematic’ ‘Jeopardy!’ Clue

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Over the years, there have been some problematic Jeopardy! moments. More than one of these involved current host Ken Jennings. It was so bad that some people brought them up when it was time to replace Alex Trebek, and there are rumors it was why the network chose Mike Richards first. It took Jennings an entire season to earn his role.

Here is a look at a few of the moments that Ken had to apologize for.

Ken Jennings Apologizes for Sexist Jeopardy! Question

On the October 28 episode of Jeopardy!, there was a clue offered that seemed to offend a lot of people. The clue asked to “Complete The Rhyming Phrase.” The start was “Men seldom make passes at…”

Ken Jennings on Jeopardy! | YouTube
Ken Jennings on ‘Jeopardy!’ – YouTube

Will Wallace got the right answer when he said, “What is Girls Who Wear Glasses.” For reference, this is a quote from Dorothy Parker and is a line from one of her poems. While it was a female poet who wrote this, taken on its own without any context, it does seem problematic.

Ken apologized for the clue, saying it wasn’t a great one. Heather Ryan, one of the contestants, wears glasses. Jennings said, “Sorry, Heather,” and Wallace added, “Very.”

Interestingly, the poet who wrote this line, Dorothy Parker, was a fierce supporter of civil rights and social justice. The two-time Oscar nominee bequeathed her entire estate to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and ordered that it be passed onto the NAACP upon his death (via NNACP). Explaining a bit of the history of the quote might have helped.

Ken Jennings Also Had A Problematic Jeopardy! Answer Himself

Ken Jennings was also part of a slightly problematic answer to a clue when he was on the show as a contestant. During his original run, Alex Trebek gave the clue and Ken gave a very interesting answer.

Jeopardy: Ken Jennings
Jeopardy: Ken Jennings/YouTube

The clue was in the “Tool Time” category and read, “This term for a long-handled gardening tool can also mean an immoral pleasure seeker.” Ken rang in and answered, “What’s a hoe?” Alex stopped and said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! They teach you that in school in Utah, huh?”

It was funny, since Ken went to college at the Mormon university BYU. Of course, while this was all funny, it was also the correct answer.

Sadly, this also brought a lot of people out of the woodwork to start to hunt down things to disparage Ken with. They found an old social media post from 2014 where Ken said there was “Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair.” He had to apologize and called it a bad joke.

What are your thoughts on the “controversial” Jeopardy! question? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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