Mormon Jeopardy icon Ken Jennings has been finding out that blogging can be hazardous to your public image. Take a look here. Ken also got ripped by the NY Post here. Ken responded yesterday pointing out that his comments were, um, tongue in cheek. The trouble all started with Ken’s blog entry here. My take: it’s pretty obvious that Ken was engaging in parody, but I’m not sure of the purpose of his blog post. There were a few funny lines, but why even be perceived to make fun of Jeopardy? Standard “public relations protocol” calls for Ken to only say completely nice things about the show that brought him fame. Yes, he’s smarter than most people, but there are a lot of readers who simply aren’t going to catch on to his sense of humor. If he had asked my opinion, I would have said: “stay away from any jokes about Jeopardy and Alex Trebek.” I’m willing to be convinced I’m wrong. What do you Bloggernacle types think?
The Millennial Star
I think the blogpost was hilarious. What other purpose does he need to make the post other than that?
Some people are too stupid to understand satire, but that doesn’t mean he should play to the lowest common denominator.
I know you’re looking for what Ken should have done, but I’m in awe that someone at the Post–the author, an editor, someone–didn’t say to him or herself that (a) this was a joke and (b) even if serious, hardly newsworthy. In fact, I think they did know, but they looked for what they wanted out of this story and found it, even if it totally misrepresented reality.
(I should also mention that as a lawyer, I’m very impressed.)
Jimbob, I think you have hit the nail on the head as to why I would have advised Ken not to write what he did. It’s too easy for some people, and, yes, they are not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, to miss nuanced humor like his. From the perspective of news people, the story “Ken Jennings, winningest and most famous Jeopardy contestant ever, insults Jeopardy and Alex Trebek” is just too good to pass up. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not (especially to tabloid writers), it is just a great news story. So, if they can pretend not to notice the satire, hey, too bad for Ken. Disgraceful behavior on the part of the news media? No doubt.
I don’t think his humor is particularly nuanced here. Anyone who reads the whole thing should immediately detect that he is not even half serious. In a really good satire it should be hard to tell the difference, i.e. having the appearance of humor, but in reality being quite earnest.
I agree though that criticizing Jeopardy, Mr. Trebek in particular, even in a satirical way, is unusually bad form.
I almost blogged the original post, but Steve Evans has been getting on my case about shilling for Ken Jennings.
I think it’s brilliant. Anyone who disagrees will suffer the wrath of a swarm of angry bees.
Funny stuff. Including the rips on Alex Trebek. Amazing what passes for “news” these days. I can’t believe I first read about this on cnn.com!
People who don’t get the joke should not be catered to. They should be made fun of.
Aaron B
I agree with Aaron Brown on this. And most other things too.
Sorry, I missed where Ken Jennings was still relevant… 🙂
I’m pretty humor-impaired, but this seemed really obvious to me. I mean, claiming to have inside knowledge that Trebek is a robot? The worst you can say is that it’s a bit of a rip off from an SNL skit or two. There’s no “there” there, as they say.
And if there’s anything more appropriate for Ken Jennings to make fun of beyond trivia, Jeopardy! and Alex Trebek, I’d like to hear about it. That’s how this type of celebrity works, I thought.
I can’t believe everyone is saying this is a joke when I am trying to warn America. ALEX TREBEK IS A KILLER ROBOT! He has laser eyebeams and he’s coming for your children.
Geoff B: your comment presupposes that I’m some actor/politician type who has to watch his “Q Rating” or whatever it’s called. I’m a guy who was on a game show, for crying out loud.
queuno: I was relevant for a brief period in high school (just looked it up: December 1990 through April 1991), then for a few hours my junior year in college, for much of 2004, and again last Memorial Day weekend (though that was an accident). I think that’s pretty darn good.
Ken, first of all thanks for dropping by. I read your blog once a week or so and always find it interesting. Very eclectic set of interests, which would make sense for a trivia buff. Secondly, I think you write very well and would agree with those who have commented that you have to be seriously dim not to understand that it was satire. Thirdly, let me repeat what I wrote above, which is that the behavior by the news media was scandalous (not for the first nor the last time) in treating your blog post as news, but I’m not sure we should be surprised these days by anything the news media does.
I’m not sure what I would advise you matters to anybody. Most people I know, including close family members, don’t tend to take my advice. But given that having a blog means you get to have an opinion, I would still say that even if you’re not an actor/politician and don’t care much about your image, you still need to be careful what you write about and how you write it. There are many people in the Bloggernacle afraid to use their full names, for example, because they are concerned they might never get tenure or that they might not get jobs at all, or that they might lose the jobs they have.
Your image is probably more important to you than you might think or else you wouldn’t have bothered to defend yourself on your own blog or come on here to defend yourself. It seems to me that all the hate mail you say you have gotten has to rankle you a bit (it would certain bother me, but I’m a sensitive type in general).
So, what I really meant to say was: being in the public eye can be a very tough thing and sometimes you are treated unfairly. That has now happened to you. So, if you want to avoid that kind of treatment, my advice (as a former journalist who knows journalists are often scum) is to avoid making jokes about Jeopardy and Alex Trebek. Thanks again for coming on M* to comment.
I didn’t mention this before because it seemed kind of indelicate, but, um, the best part of winning a gajillion dollars on syndicated TV is you don’t have to worry about anything in that list. Ever again. (If your reply is, “But what if it makes the Church look bad?” think a second about what you’re saying. You are saying, “But what if your claim that a syndicated quiz show needs to add killer bees makes the Church look bad?” which will probably remind you how outlandish the point is.) 🙂
This strikes me as odd reasoning. The ten commenters above me didn’t show up because they were concerned about their own image, or mine. They came on here because blogs are for wasting time chatting about things, and it’s sort of fun. That’s the same reason I’m here, except that–in addition–I thought I was an unusually authoritative source on this topic. 🙂
Next up, the scandal that erupts when Benji Schwimmer makes a joke about triple-step at his new blog.
I like the Benji comparison. However, Benji better not say anything about him and his relationship(or lack therof) with Donyelle. Otherwise, that could be a travesty for the church and Benji.
I thought Ken’s post was fantastic and ingenius. I think most of us(myself more than included) are just jealous that we don’t have the platform to make similar comments.
First off, I think the post was great. It was a humor piece that I wouldn’t have read without the press picking up on it. I understand why some people say that it shouldn’t have been written in the first place, but it is not like Jeapardy came to Ken and said, “hey, we will give you a million bucks (Strike that, make it a bit over two million) to play and win over the course of 74 tapings of Jeapardy.” Nope, Jeapardy said, if you are good enough to stay on, you can make as much as you can, and while you are at it, we will make millions of off of you” I mean, come on, Jeapardy probably got more money out of publicity from Ken Jennings continuous win streak than they gave out to Ken. If anything, Jeapardy is asking a lot out of Ken to continue to be it’s poster child.
Second, I went to Ken’s site and checked it out for the first time after the news aired because I wanted to read it for myself. Then I read couple of excerpts from his new book on Trivia. I was hooked. This news article brings enough interest to him that people won’t forget who he is when the book comes out.