Jeopardy! Faces Backlash After Dr. Oz Appearance, Fans Call for Boycott
The Turkish-American TV personality, Dr. Oz, received backlash from longtime fans of the classic game show as 593 past contestants called for a two-week Jeopardy boycott, protesting about his Monday hosting stint.
Even before the airing of the March 22 episode, which is the first of his two-week hosting stint for the game show, Dr. Oz has already been on a rocky start as past contestants formed a group and wrote an open letter addressed to Mike Richards, the show's executive producer.
In their letter, former contestants emphasized that Dr. Oz is exactly the opposite of everything that Jeopardy is about, as it is a show that has a great appreciation for facts and knowledge, while Dr. Oz has pushed harmful ideas towards American people, and it is even against his oath as a doctor.
According to Hollywood Life, based on 593 former contestants of the game show, they are pushing the two-week boycott as Dr. Oz recently supported the claim of hydroxychloroquine usage in treating coronavirus. The letter, which was initially published on February 24, added Dr. Oz to the list of Americans riding the dubious claim and disregarded science.
Moreover, former contestants have high praise for the classic game show and even shared their behind-the-scene experiences while playing the game itself in the letter. They stated the importance of facts, especially for the writers and the judges as they frantically cross-reference answers in real-time in order to make sure that everything about the show will be accurate. For the group, inviting Dr.Oz is a "slap in the face" for the Jeopardy family.
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In addition, not only fans roasted the hosting stint of Dr.Oz and called for a Jeopardy boycott, as famous faces like American journalist and CNN anchor Jake Tapper posted on his Twitter account that half of the medical advice of Dr. Oz is either baseless or wrong and cited a link to support. Despite their love for the show, a number of other fans tweeted that even that it is hard to not have the classic game show for the next two weeks, they will proceed to the 'Jeopardy Boycott' and will be back once the hosting gig of Dr. Oz ends, People reported.
After battling pancreatic cancer for more than two years, the legendary and the longtime host of the classic game show, Alex Trebek, passed in November 2020. Since then, numerous faces of celebrities from the field of sports to media hosted Jeopardy. Green Bay Packers superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who confessed about being a Jeopardy fanatic, had his hosting stint for his favorite game show.
Also, journalist Katie Couric and Dr. Sanjay Gupta made their hosting appearances, but none of them received such reactions from fans and former contestants like Dr. Oz did, Yahoo! News reported.
Despite opening the show about his friendship with the longtime host and even sharing his experience of witnessing a room full of letters from Jeopardy fans by Alex, still, Dr. Oz was not able to avoid such backlash.
WATCH: Hundreds of Past Jeopardy! Contestants Want Dr. Oz Booted as Guest Host - Daily Blast LIVE
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