'Jeopardy!' Spokesperson Responds to Uproar Over 'Palestine' Answer

A representative for Jeopardy! is speaking out in response to the uproar over a question on the show last week, in which Palestine was not recognized as a correct response.

The $200 clue for the “Where’s That Church?” category was, “Built in the 300s A.D., the Church of the Nativity.” A contestant responded by saying, “What is Palestine?” and she was told she was incorrect.

Another contestant then buzzed in and said, “What is Israel?” and he was told he was correct.

Omar Baddar, who is the deputy director of the Arab American Institute, tweeted, “Unacceptable!! Bethlehem is in the Palestinian territories which Israel illegally occupies (Katie Needle got the correct answer & was robbed). @Jeopardy owes an apology for endorsing Israel’s universally-condemned illegal takeover of Palestinian lands.”

Now, a spokesperson for the show has explained that the clue was never supposed to be aired as the production team realized it was a “flawed” question and even taped a replacement clue.

Click inside to read the full statement from the Jeopardy team…

“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. The outcome of the game was not affected. We then continued the game with this replacement clue. 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,” they said in a statement.

You can watch the replacement clue in the video here.