I’ll take sexist phrases for $1,000, Ken.
During Monday’s episode of Jeopardy!, Ken Jennings was forced to apologize after he read a clue during the category, “Complete the Rhyming Phrase” that many viewers deemed inappropriate.
“Men seldom make passes at…” the game show host said to the contestants.
Will Wallace, the returning champion, buzzed in with the correct answer, “Girls who wear glasses.”
As if it wasn’t already bad enough the game show used an outdated phrase first used by poet Dorothy Parker in 1926, one of the contestants on the show was wearing glasses.
“A little problematic, sorry Heather,” Jennings replied after he accepted Wallace’s answer.
“Very,” added Wallace.
Online, fans were extremely critical of the decision to include the clue in the game.
“It was a weird choice. There are plenty of other rhyming phrases to choose from that don’t make your contestants, your host, and your audience visibly uncomfortable,” one fan wrote in a Reddit thread for the episode.
“Agreed on all counts. Seemed like someone used a 1950s reference book to research the category,” another commented.
“Still angry about this. She’s used her intelligence to get on here, only to be insulted by a sexist and rude comment,” someone wrote on X.
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