Jeopardy's Alex Trebek Hammered On Social Media For Sexist Comments To Female Contestant

Originally from Sudbury, Canada, Alex Trebek shifted careers from journalism to game show hosting in 1966 and has never looked back. He got a gig as the host of the revamped Jeopardy! show back in 1984, and his smiling face has been beamed into living rooms all across the world every evening for 17 years now.

Part of Trebek’s hosting duties on the program involve chatting with the three contestants on the panel at various points in the show. Making small talk with strangers can be tricky, even if you do have a card with a little info on each player to refer to. Trebek is a relaxed, easy-going guy, so he rarely puts his foot in his mouth on the show, but even old pros like Alex have a bad day once in a while.

Apparently, it’s Trebek’s turn to be called "sexist", as he rather awkwardly phrased a question he asked a female contestant on an episode of Jeopardy! this week, and has been hammered on social media for his patronizing faux pas ever since.

It seems that while chatting with contestant Lisa Beth Davis, who ended up in second place, Trebek innocently inquired about the job she’d had before she retired.

"Retired Army Master Sergeant," Trebek repeated after Davis told him briefly about her career. "That must be really tough for a woman, because a Master Sergeant is giving orders most of the time. How was it for you?"

"I'm pretty bossy -- I'm the oldest -- so I know how to tell people what to do," Davis responded to Trebek’s awkwardly sexist comment with a laugh.

"You're the oldest in your family," Trebek continued bantering with the friendly contestant. "Did you have brothers?"

"I have sisters," she answered, nodding her head.

"Did you boss them around?" he asked, waving his arms and grinning.

"Oh, yes," Davis responded immediately.

"So you learned how to do it?" Trebek went on, concluding the interview. "Good for you!"

Although the brief interaction between the two was not uncomfortable, Trebek asking Davis if her profession was hard given her gender was pretty insensitive, and has led to a huge backlash on Twitter and other social media outlets against the normally congenial Trebek, with many of the critics saying the 77-year-old game show host was being "sexist."

Check out a few of the tweets slamming Trebek for his patronizing comments on the show below:

"That is some really bold sexism, especially directed at a former US military officer," a woman from California wrote.

Another poster’s tweet expressed frustration with Trebek’s old-fashioned paternalism: "Alex Trebek told a female contestant who’s a retired Army master sergeant that it must be really tough for a woman to be a master sergeant because a master sergeant is giving orders most of the time," someone else said. "Alex, it’s 2017. Women can do and be whatever the f--k they want."

Of note, Trebek has not responded publicly to the criticism regarding his comments on Tuesday’s show yet, but look for a statement on the subject to be released later this week.

Source: AOL
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, YouTube