If you thought the prevalence of the nonsensical phrase "six seven" was bad, just imagine all of the obscure memes you don't know about that could be mistaken for AI.
During gameplay between contestants Cindy, Sondra, and Dargan, Dargan requested the category, "Daddy, Is There Really A..." for $400.
For this category, the contestant must complete the question, like "Daddy, is there really a Santa Claus?" by using the clue provided, which is something a father might say in response, like, "Yes, he appears every year on Christmas Eve night."
But the $400 clue managed to baffle everyone, including Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings.
"No. AI generated the TikTok image of this pig/human eventually killed by Tim Cheese."
The camera panned to each stumped contestant, and Jennings admitted:
"I didn't understand any of that."
Then Jennings provided the answer:
"Who is John Pork."
You can watch the original video here:
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
This all seems harmless enough, albeit confusing, but some viewers took offense to the phrasing of the Jeopardy! question, namely the claim that John Pork was "AI-generated."
John Pork, an individual with a man's body and a pig's head on top, rose to fame back in 2018, sharing his interests in travel, music, and fashion. Fans of the character have also built their own stories and lore around him, some of it incredibly fantastic and nonsensical, like an individual with a man's body and a rat's head named "Tim Cheese" eventually leading to his demise.
Though photo editing and makeup were obviously involved, his obscure account launched before ChatGPT and AI-generated images rose to infamy.
Wishing to keep their already wholesome and informative platform clean of controversy, Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings issued a genuine and funny apology to John Pork and his social media followers.
Jennings said:
"When we played a clue recently on 'Jeopardy!' about John Pork, I remarked that I didn't understand a word of it."
"Well, I've had the chance to learn quite a bit since that clue aired about the late Mr. Pork, including the fact that some viewers took exception with our description of him as AI-generated."
"Now, even though AI is used heavily in many of his TikToks, it's possible that wasn't the best wording to refer to his original appearances."
"John, I hope you'll forgive me and all of us at 'Jeopardy!' for any insult we may have committed against you or your memory."
You can watch the apology video here:
Viewers found the apology to be funny—and somewhat baffling.
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Imagine, an anthropomorphic pig-man "killed" by an anthropomorphic rat-man, and we're not even watching a contemporary rendition of The Nutcracker. With an apology from none other than the Jeopardy! host sprinkled on top.
What a time to be alive.
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