A Jeopardy! contestant insisted he did not use a “white power” symbol during an appearance on the game show amid outcry from former contestants that he apologize.
Returning champion Kelly Donohue appeared on Jeopardy! Tuesday evening and was seen holding up three fingers, which formed an “OK” hand sign. He said in a since-deleted Facebook post that the gesture was to emphasize he won three games on the show, not a white power sign.
“That’s a 1. That’s a 2. That’s a 3. No more. No less,” Donohue wrote. “There wasn’t a hidden agenda or any malice behind it.”
He has since made his social media account private and did not appear on Wednesday’s episode of the game show.
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More than 400 former Jeopardy! Contestants are demanding an apology from Donohue and wrote a letter on the matter published Wednesday.
“This, whether intentional or not, resembled very closely a gesture that has been coopted by white power groups, alt right groups, and an anti-government group that calls itself the Three Percenters,” a letter from the former contestants reads.
The Anti-Defamation League added the “OK” hand gesture and other symbols to its “Hate on Display” online database in 2019.
The former contestants went on to argue that the symbol is a “racist dog whistle.”
“Regardless of his stated intent, the gesture is a racist dog whistle. Some of the first people to notice this were not affiliated with ‘Jeopardy!’ in any way — they were viewers who couldn’t believe what they’d seen, captured it on video, and shared it to Twitter. Among them were people of color who, needless to say, are attuned to racist messaging and not appreciative that the show allowed this symbol to be broadcast.”
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The report comes after a San Diego Gas and Electric employee was fired last year for making the same “OK” sign in a photo that spread on social media. The former employee, Emmanuel Cafferty, said that he was just cracking his knuckles in the photo and was unaware of what the signal meant.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to get over this, but to lose your dream job for playing with your fingers, that’s a hard pill to swallow,” Cafferty said.
