Conservatives are threatening to boycott the popular game show “Jeopardy!” after its host, Ken Jennings, took to social media to say he supports the next president prosecuting members of the Trump Administration. Mr. Jennings wrote on Bluesky, the liberal social media platform, that “The ‘prosecute the former regime at every level’ candidate has my vote in 2028.”In a separate post, he wrote, “It’s been a dark week, but I just saw someone reply to an ‘Abolish ICE’ post with a scoldy Bluesky ‘Uh, try abolish DHS’ and that joy will sustain me for a little while.”Mr. Jennings’ posts appear to reference the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good at Minneapolis by an ICE agent. The Democratic mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, told ICE to “get the f—” out of his city. The Department of Homeland Security said Good “weaponized her vehicle” and tried to run over an agent. Videos of the incident show agents telling Good to exit her vehicle. One angle shows Good appearing to hit an agent with her vehicle before he opened fire.Earlier in the week, Mr. Jennings also seemed to make clear his opinion of the operation that led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro, writing, “America is always like ‘ok but the NEXT regime change will work,’ like when I ‘cut out carbs” briefly every January.’”The post by Mr. Jennings marks the latest departure from the precedent set by the late Alex Trebek of avoiding partisan political attacks. “Jeopardy!”, one of the longest-running and most successful programs in the history of television, is a carefully curated brand that eschews showing any political opinions.Trebek told Vulture in 2018 that he identified as an independent and was socially liberal but fiscally conservative. While Trebek donated to Christian organizations, he did not use social media or his platform on “Jeopardy!” to get into political spats, helping to keep the game show apolitical.Mr. Jennings has previously attacked the Trump family and conservatives. In 2017, he mocked Barron Trump, who was 11 years old at the time, after a report from TMZ said he thought something had happened to his father when he saw an image of comedian Kathy Griffin holding a prop of President Trump’s bloodied head. In 2020, Mr. Jennings apologized for his “insensitive” social media posts. Mr. Jennings’ comment on Wednesday sparked backlash, with some social media users saying they would stop watching the show.“I will not watch Jeopardy again until you replace Ken Jennings. Keep politics out of jeopardy. Good bye,” one user on X said. Another user wrote, “Time to Boycott @Jeopardy.”A senior writer at RealClearPolitics, Mark Hemingway, wrote, “I was ok with Jennings as the host only because he appeared to cut down on the obnoxious politics online. If Jeopardy values their advertisers, keep him the hell off Bsky.”“Another dumbass. Because I’m sure there aren’t any Trump supporters who watch ‘Jeopardy!,’ right?” conservative commentator Mike Gallagher said. Another user wrote, “Congrats to @Jeopardy on your nitwit host unnecessarily tanking your ratings because he had to signal his virtue.”Sony Pictures Television – which produces “Jeopardy!” — did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.CBS Media Ventures — which recently reached a deal with Sony to continue distributing “Jeopardy!” for two more years— also did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. Although “Jeopardy!” airs mostly on ABC-owned or affiliated stations, it’s actually owned by Sony and distributed by CBS, which gets a cut of its revenue. Mr. Jennings is not the only “Jeopardy!” host to weigh in on current events. In 2023, a co-host of the show, Mayim Bialik, who is Jewish, criticized women’s organizations for not “unequivocally condemning the systematic rape and torture of women on October 7 by Hama.”“Brutal gang rapes, sexual torture, and murder of fetuses happened- period. Where are the ‘BELIEVE THEM’ voices?” Ms. Bialik said.Weeks later, Ms. Bialik – who is also well known for her unusual views on parenting – said that Sony Pictures Television informed her that she would no longer be hosting the show.
