'Jeopardy!' Weed Joke Ruffles Viewers' Feathers

Jeopardy! featured a pun about cannabis in one of its clues last week, and viewers were surprisingly sensitive to it. On the May 24 episode of the quiz show, the category 'Ripped From the Headlines' included the clue: 'Marijuana issues sent to this 'committee' generally composed of members of both [...]

‘Jeopardy!’ Weed Joke Ruffles Viewers’ Feathers

Jeopardy! featured a pun about cannabis in one of its clues last week, and viewers were surprisingly sensitive to it. On the May 24 episode of the quiz show, the category “Ripped From the Headlines” included the clue: “Marijuana issues sent to this ‘committee’ generally composed of members of both houses of legislature.” The correct question was “What is a joint committee?”

Contestant Bonnie Kistler picked this clue, worth $400 in the game. The first guess came from contestant Ryan Long, he said: “What is a bipartisan committee?” He was incorrect, and eventually host Mayim Bialik had to give the answer away. After reading the pun she laughed and said “get it?” While the contestants seemed to be slow on the uptake, some viewers on social media skipped right ahead to outrage.

Um, excuse me, but with the legalization of the devil’s weed, even children have to know what it is. If they’re old enough to watch Jeopardy, and understand what’s being said, then yeah. YOU people wanted it legalized, deal with it.
— Chlora (@Chlora1888) May 26, 2022

“Oh, but won’t the Jeopardy writers PLEASE think of the children watching, and their delicate ears that were just exposed to a cannabis reference?” one person tweeted. Another wrote: “Marijuana? Joint? Har de har har…”

Decriminalizing and legalizing marijuana has become an extremely popular agenda in the U.S. in recent years. According to a report by the Pew Research Center, an estimated 60 percent of Americans now support legalization of marijuana for medical and recreational use. Another 31 percent of Americans support legalization for medical use only, while just 8 percent do not support legalization at all. However, introducing more nuanced qualifiers about decriminalization can alter these results.

This polling also shows that older people are less likely to support legalization than younger Americans. This is significant in this case because according to a report by Slate, the average age of Jeopardy viewers is 65 years old. That is actually down in recent years from a high of 70 years old.

I checked your TL for tweets condemning alcohol answers & found nothing but this “joke”. I know it’s all funny to pretend that cannabis is dangerous, but many people are alive right now only due to medical cannabis & ignorant jokes like yours don’t help https://t.co/VSSKpJcPje
— Andrew McFarlane (@farlanewastaken) May 26, 2022

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As defenders pointed out online, users rarely have the same reaction to jokes about alcohol in a similar context. Additionally, the late Alex Trebek himself was known to make jokes about cannabis from time to time. In a 2017 interview with The Daily Beast, he told a story about accidentally eating weed brownies while at a friend’s house in the early days of medical legalization.

Jeopardy seems to have no end of controversy since Trebek’s passing. Viewers are still debating what course the show should take in terms of its host, but for now both Bialik and Ken Jennings have signed on through the fall. Jeopardy airs in syndication on weeknights at 7 p.m. ET – check your local listings for the right channel.