Do ‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Have a Big Blindspot When It Comes to Black History & Culture?

Isaac Rouse March 6, 2023, 6:04 pm

Ken Jennings - Jeopardy! — (Credit: Jeopardy!, Inc.)

On a recent episode of Jeopardy!, during the “dumb” High School Reunion Tournament, there was a Rapper category that featured an image of Odd Future alum Earl Sweatshirt with a hoodie on. However, contestant Audrey incorrectly answered the question with: what is a Boogie With Da Hoodie? (another rapper, which she did not pronounce correctly), and it went viral on Twitter.

But it was an honest mistake. Not everyone has to know everything about rap.

But there are some more egregious mistakes that we wish would have gone viral instead. Because some of the other contestants who answer incorrectly when it comes to black history and culture may lead you to believe the fans respect neither topic.

Jeopardy! Respects it, though. So even though its fans seemingly can’t be bothered to study too much black culture and history, they acknowledge the blind spot by throwing some softballs.

They violated Earl Sweatshirt on Jeopardy just now 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/LcjHBwRF4j

— WREX MASON (@wrexmason) March 1, 2023

“A nice 2011 for this 1-name star: he joined Enrique Iglesias on “Tonight (I’m Lovin’ You)” & played Tej in Fast Five,” Ken Jennings raspily reads. Andrew replied with Tyrese, the only other black guy on the roster.

“Samuel L. Jackson played this Jedi with an amethyst-bladed lightsaber,” Jennings astutely states. Not a peep from the contestants.

In the category Their ‘80s No.1 Album, it was “ his ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ (& it’s not Elvis) for $1200, nobody got it, but Jennings knew. “One of the first records I ever bought, and it’s by Bobby Brown,” he playfully admitted.

“I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this, killing myself, to die upon a kiss,” Mayim Bialik reads. “Romeo & Juliet,” one girl yells, another Antony and Cleopatra, the last girl clasps her trap shut and nods “no.” The answer was Othello, the only brother in Shakespeare literature!

In the autobiography category: “‘Ella,’ I said, ‘I want to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.” Somehow, everyone drew blanks.

Again, these are just the easy ones.

There are many important historical figures, athletes, activists, musicians, and literary icons that are mentioned that leave contestants dumbfounded.

Amiri Baraka’s Black Arts Movement, novelist Colson Whitehead, poet Amanda Gorman, rapper/businesswoman Nicki Minaj, and the list goes on.

We can’t judge these people ultimately, as we’re sure there are a lot of everyday people who do not know these culturally significant people and places. But at least there’s a hint of embarrassment from the folks on the show–an air of disappointment from at least not getting the correct answer.

But on Twitter, Jeopardy! fans relish not knowing black history and culture. Usually these fans are often disappointed whenever they tweet along with the show and get the incorrect answer. Or they find it funny how foolish their answers were.

But if it’s something like a Rapper category, they have the opposite reactions. They’re gleeful about not knowing. So if the fans don’t really respect black culture & history online, it makes sense why the contestants can think to brush up on every other thing in the world with the exception of black history.

There’s an entire YouTube channel called Black Jeopardy that’s dedicated to showcasing just how many contestants don’t know this stuff, which is where most of these examples come from.

'Jeopardy!' Player Gushes Over Former Celebrity Crush Mayim Bialik

Now, it’s easy to make this argument about race, as it is such ripe, low-hanging fruit. And it would be easy to extrapolate that if it can get sometimes rather sexist over Mayim as co-host that some fans can get racist, too. But we don’t even think this is (much) of a race thing. It seems more like an intellectual oversight.

We suppose that’s what most caught us by surprise upon the initial development of this story. We all grow up knowing American history and pop culture, but it seems like even the smartest people can’t seem to retain basic black knowledge. And no, we don’t expect all black people to be these monolithic all-knowers of black history, either. But when contestants are drawing blanks at Malcolm X, you can’t help but see the blindspot.