‘Jeopardy!’: Ken Jennings Reacts After Fan Blasts Him for Hosting During Strike
Ken Jennings has hit back at a fan who called him a “disgrace” for hosting Jeopardy! amid the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike.
The long-running game show is set to begin taping Season 40 on Tuesday, August 15, and will be using a mix of recycled material and new material written pre-strike. While Jennings hasn’t officially confirmed whether he’ll be hosting, his latest tweet suggests he’ll be back behind the podium.
“You’re a disgrace if you’re trying to cross picket lines. Alex [Trebek] would NEVER do anything of the sort. He would turn over his grave seeing you act like that,” a frustrated fan tweeted at Jennings on Sunday, August 13.
The Jeopardy! GOAT replied with a screenshot of Sony Pictures’ recent statement about the upcoming 40th season, which read, “Jeopardy! has a long history with and tremendous respect for the WGA and our writers. We have always been careful to honor our WGA agreements and we would never air game material not created by WGA writers.”
He then highlighted the following section: “However, just as we did, led by Alex Trebek, during the 2007-2008 strike, we will deliver first-run episodes again this fall.”
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) August 13, 2023
Jennings previously stepped in to host the remainder of Season 39 after fellow host Mayim Bialik stepped away in solidarity with the WGA strike. This decision was met with backlash from some fans and fellow contestants, including Wil Wheaton, who referred to Jennings as a “scab.”
Showrunner Michael Davies announced last week that Season 40 will begin with a Second Chance tournament featuring contestants from Season 37. A Champions Wild Card tournament will follow, pitting the winners of the Second Chance competition against Season 38 champions.
However, several Season 37 and 38 contestants have stated they would not participate in the new episodes until the strikes are resolved. Players such as Sandy Olive, Garrett Marcone, Jennifer Linde, and Devin Rossiter have also said they turned down invites.
This comes after a number of Season 39 champions, including Ray LaLonde, Hannah Wilson, and Cris Pannullo, said they wouldn’t take part in the 2023 Tournament of Champions until the strike is resolved.
Jeopardy! is currently airing reruns of last year’s Tournament of Champions. This will be followed by two weeks of Producers’ Picks before Season 40 is scheduled to begin on Monday, September 11.
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Conversation15 Comments
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Comments are closed on this story.
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O
That fan is plain ignorant. If the techs, camera operators etc. are members of unions and are willing to cross the picket line to keep the show going, why single out Ken?
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B
Because he is an actor and his union is on strike. The camera person and Tec are not
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B
Ken Jennings is not an actor, so not a member of SAG. He appears as himself on TV even in sitcoms like Mayim's Call Me Kat. You don't have to be a SAG member to appear as yourself on TV.
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O
If they're using WGA written material and not crossing writer picket lines to use scab writers, and Ken Jennings is a game show host and not a television actor, what's the conflict? Anyone with a problem, can "channel up" or "channel down," or turn off your TV...
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C
From what I can see, the unions involved represent writers and actors, not game show hosts. Whether to cross a picket line during a strike if you are not in one of the striking unions is a personal choice. Whether you watch the show during the strike is a personal choice. As long as Jeopardy does not hire scabs, I will keep watching.
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G
They need to get a life. Others have to do what they need to do. You want everything to stop for strickers. Many people in this country don’t get paid
much and can’t strick.
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G
Strick?
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O
If she married a bus, that explains a lot.
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P
We love Ken Jennings!
Dynamic and interesting...the best.
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C
SAG has a clause in the current agreement that allows its members fulfilling specific duties (such as game show-specific roles) to show up to their productions. Ken would literally lose his job if he tried to strike.
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C
Sick of all the commotion since Alek Tribeck . Jeopardy should not have had all the issues of who is going to host . Never ending story .
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B
It's about the writers ken has nothing to do with the writers. You go ken the union is nothing but a screw up.
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C
Poor union people. As always it’s all about you.
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B
Jeopardy should be removed from TV until the real writers are back. The "answers" have noticably dipped in quality and even in intelligability. There are many more answers now that stump all 3 every night mostly because these are so poorly crafted.
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He's a scab he crossed th
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