‘Jeopardy!’ Apologizes for Controversial Question That Made it On Air [VIDEO]

The producers of the game show 'Jeopardy' cited a human error for allowing a controversial question to make it to the air on Friday (1/10).

The ruling created quite a stir on social media. The $200 clue in the category "Where's That Church" read as follows:  “Built in the 300s A.D., the Church of the Nativity.” Contestant Katie Needle's response was ruled incorrect when she said, "What is Palestine?" When her opponent Jack rang in with "What is Israel?" his response was deemed correct.

The Church of the Nativity is located in Bethlehem. The US and many other countries do not recognize Palestine as a state, hence the confusion.

In a statement, the show noted that they "became aware that the clue was flawed as written and that determining an acceptable response would be problematic." The clue was declared void and the whole exchange was supposed to have been edited out and replaced with another question and answer.

However, there was an error in post-production and the controversial clue did make it into the broadcast.

Video of the correct clue and response and the producers' full statement are below. The question change would not have resulted in a scoring change.

In the process of taping this clue, “BUILT IN THE 300s A.D., THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY” we became aware that the clue was flawed as written and that determining an acceptable response would be problematic. In accordance with our rules and in the interest of fairness, we voided the clue and threw it out. We restored Katie’s and Jack’s scores to what they were prior to the clue. We then continued the game with this replacement clue. The outcome of the game was not affected.

 

 

Unfortunately, through human error in post-production, the uncorrected version of the game was broadcast. We regret the error and we will make every effort to ensure this never happens again.