Ken Jennings, of course, is the host of Jeopardy!, having taken over from legend Alex Trebek when he took a dirt nap. Of course, Americans have the right to free speech. Every first-grader knows that. But just because you have the right to say things, that doesn’t always mean that doing so is actually a good idea, especially when you’re high-profile as Kennings is.
It appears that Jennings has taken it upon himself to pontificate about the whole ICE mess. A notorious Mormon and a resident of Seattle, Jennings has now publicly said that he will vote for whomever prosecutes the Trump administration, or, as he puts it, the “regime.” I’m not exactly sure how he expects that to happen, but Mormons aren’t known for being rational.
Jennings is enraged by the justified shooting of notorious lesbian activist Renee Nicole Good, who was rightfully the target of a head shot by an ICE agent. The agent who shot her had no choice as Good was using her vehicle as a weapon. Someone had to take her out, and thankfully, someone did. That must really piss Jennings off!
Our uppity friend here is upset with Trump and his administration. Well, of course he is. People like him, ungrateful Americans in Name Only, are always on the wrong side of history. Jennings can be upset all he wants, but when a public figure like him spews their vitriol over political matters, problems occur.
This scumbag has even attacked people who disagree with him. He stated that anyone who disagrees with him is someone suffering from “anxiety.” That’s kind of frightening.
In his hometown newspaper, Jennings is painted as being “outspoken.” Fine for someone who isn’t in the spotlight, a very well-paying one at that, but not fine for someone in his position.
Jennings has also spewed his hate speech towards ICE, an agency that is merely trying to make America great again. That’s one of those problems that I mentioned. If I write hateful things, it’s no big deal as I am just one person at work, a place that my haters have tried to find but have failed to find. Besides, I only represent myself, not my employer.
When Jennings speaks up, however, it’s different. He represents a highly successful game show, a game show that brings in money for everyone involved, right down to local affiliates.
He went so far as to insult people who don’t feel the way that he does. Well, here’s the thing: Jennings has every right to spew the garbage that he is currently spewing. But that shouldn’t go unpunished. He is the face of what is perhaps most successful and most respected game shows in American history.
That means that when it comes to controversial and/or political issues, he should perhaps shut up as he is a representative of the game show. When you’re in a lofty position such as that, you sacrifice some things. Jennings should have sacrificed his free speech over this whole issue. By his words and actions, Jennings has put the show and the company that produces it in…well…jeopardy.
Numerous media outlets have picked this story up and that means his bosses are now aware of his rant. Hopefully, they are prepared for the negative attention that soon will happen. I’ll bet that Jennings has already been discussed in conference calls and maybe even conference rooms. That is something that typically does not bode well for hosts who can’t keep their fingers away from keyboards.
Apparently, Jennings didn’t stop to think about consequences. He is now dragging the people who sign his paycheck into the public light. He also didn’t stop to think about how advertisers might view his actions. Now, the game show does have a business model: the stations that air the show do pay a license fee. However, the game show does have national advertisers.
The problem, though, is that the advertisers who buy ad time on local stations might be offended by what Jennings had to say and offended by Kennings’ words potentially having a negative impact. More to the point, local viewers might not like what Jennings had to say. Those viewers could call and boycott those advertisers. Those advertisers would then pull their commercials from local stations and that would have a direct impact on those stations, stations that rely on those advertisers to sign their employees’ paychecks.
How do I know all of that? I’ve worked in the broadcasting industry, and I was at one point in charge of programming for a small but popular television station somewhere in the country. Most of our programming was on a barter basis, meaning that national advertisers get time and then we would get time to insert our local advertisements.
Here’s the thing: if we aired that show, I would already have pulled the program from our air given that bringing negative attention is nearly always grounds for refusing to air programming despite the existence of a contract. Kennings is bringing negative attention to the show that feeds his family and pays for his house.
Again, the show would have been pulled by yours truly until Kennings’ contract becomes null and void because of the morals clause. But by the time that I took such action, our clients would have already called and threatened to pull their ads from our station unless we stopped airing the show. In that scenario, Jennings’ words would have had a direct impact on my station’s well-being, so yes, I would pull the show.
Now, here in Albany, WTEN airs the show. WTEN is owned by Nexstar, for whom I’ve worked in the past. I still have contacts within the company, and I have reached out to them to point out the potential pitfalls of airing the show right now. Hopefully, they will pull the show from all of their stations that air it, at least until this dies down.
I really do think that the companies who own stations that air the show across the country should have frank discussions with Sony Pictures Entertainment, the company that owns and distributes the show. Those frank discussions should include the potential for asking Jennings to step down as he clearly doesn’t think about the negative impact that is occurring because of his words.
Is it fair to punish Jennings for his opinions? As retarded as his opinions are, he does have the right to express them. Again, when you’re the public face of a highly successful television show, you should sacrifice at least some of your free speech rights in order to ensure that your words don’t impact innocent people from the highest executive to the local master control operators. Advertisers boycotting the show would definitely impact stations and at that point, people’s jobs are in….jeopardy.
During one of his rants, Jennings waxed ironic: “You might have something substantive to say instead. Or, even better, you can say nothing at all.” He might have had something substantive to say, but he didn’t. Things would have been better if he took his own advice and he could have said nothing at all.
Now, because Jennings chose to not say nothing at all, he risks angering his bosses, the viewers, the advertisers and the employees of local stations that didn’t asked to be dragged into a messy political issue.
Did Jennings stop to think before he wrote the things that he wrote? Clearly, the answer is no. Because of that, he must be removed immediately.