As Twitchy reported last week, “Jeopardy!” contestant Kelly Donohue was attacked by over 400 former contestants who accused him of making a white power gesture on the show — the same gesture we have photos of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Jen Psaki, Hillary Clinton, and more making. Donohue jumped on Facebook, said he deeply regretted this terrible misunderstanding and explained that he’d held up one finger after his first win and two after his second.
That letter signed by more than 400 former contestants can be found on Medium:
Read the update here. People's willingness to recklessly defame people is just wild. He could sue the hell out of everybody who signed this. https://t.co/yUrHhl2GOH
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) April 30, 2021
They write:
Most problematic to us as a contestant community is the fact that Kelly has not publicly apologized for the ramifications of the gesture he made. If something has been misconstrued, an apology and a total disavowal of any connection to white supremacist doctrines is called for. We saw that gesture air on television. We are among the public it affected, and we are a diverse group of people. People of color, religious minorities, and other marginalized groups already live in a United States and a Canada that have structural and institutional racism, sexism, antisemitism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia embedded into their history and function. These people deal with microaggressions nearly every day of their lives, through words, actions, and assumptions that remind them on a constant basis that they are not the default, they are not the mainstream, they are not “real citizens.” And that is hard enough. That is enough for them to bear and enough for us to keep trying to recognize, to address, and to fight. That is already a series of walls and fences that keeps us from truly reaching the American ideal of e pluribus unum.
You’re not a diverse group of people; you’re all idiots. Good luck in life dealing with all those microaggressions.
This is just like Trump — the media assumption was that he was a white supremacist and he was made to keep denying it, over and over, in press conferences and debates — debates with Joe “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids” Biden.
I don't necessarily want to see people get sued, but I fear that until people start fearing consequences for wild accusations of racism it's going to keep happening. https://t.co/NuTbTjlF1P
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) May 2, 2021
I hope they get sued
— CHEETOS🎃 (@_CHEETOSx) May 2, 2021
I do. Sue away.
— Nuclear Ironman 🏊♂️🚴♂️🏃♂️🏅 (@NuclearHerbs) May 3, 2021
I want these assholes who scream “racist” at everybody to have the piss sued out of them. https://t.co/xBuSjQPw5v
— Nick Searcy, INTERNATIONAL FILM & TELEVISION STAR (@yesnicksearcy) May 3, 2021
— Boston Patriot (@BPatriot75) May 3, 2021
I think everybody should be issued 10 racism cards every year. Burn them all Jan. 1 or wait until Dec. 31. Once the 10 are gone, have to wait until next year. CNN and MSNBC will go dark on Jan. 2.
— teejk (@teejk2) May 3, 2021
I want to see people get sued. https://t.co/OmKTRGCgxc
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 2, 2021
He should sue each one of them for the amount they won on Jeopardy.
— JaynZ (@janezstyle) May 2, 2021
Sandmann already sued CNN and others. They did not change their attitude at all. Will need a lot more suing to make an impact.
— John Locke (@jlocke613) May 2, 2021
We get the behavior from others that we tolerate. As long as we tolerate slander and libel, we will get more of it. I agree that people need to get their asses sued. It can't come soon enough.
— Zizz (@hraphanidousai) May 2, 2021
— sytek (@sytek) May 2, 2021
I think we would find out that the flying accusations of racism would cease when people have to put their money where their mouth is.
— GB (@GB19979) May 2, 2021
Absolutely agree. Enough of the mind reading and hyper-sensitive interpretation of every damned thing.
— Dominicus Floridius🇺🇸🗽🏛🖊🖌🎼🇮🇹 (@usapapro) May 2, 2021
I want to see the cop who LeBron James slandered sue him for all he’s got.
— Dandy Truman (@DandyTruman) May 2, 2021
Agree. Sue them all. I guess they’ll say I’m a racist because I want to sue someone who called me a racist.
— Wake Up America (@KuhlmannBill) May 2, 2021
Sue the living daylights outta them.
— Arthur Fortune (@CBove1) May 2, 2021
— Newsosphere 🛡️ (@Newsosphere) May 2, 2021
Amazing how a few people have managed to take a symbol used in SCUBA and in American Sign Language, a symbol widely used and understood, and sully it, make it ugly. Why aren't we all standing up and saying NO and then suing the pants off them? It's the American way.
— marthadurham (@marthadurham512) May 3, 2021
Not just sued. Destroyed. I want people who do this to be destroyed.
— Brother Seamus (@WaynePelota) May 2, 2021
I want to see them get sued, lose in court and MADE TO PAY. pic.twitter.com/ve2Ye8UiNc
— SauerMelon (@SauerMelons) May 2, 2021
I want people not only sued but fired from their jobs as well. If you're making false allegations of racism it's time to start paying a heavy price.
— TheOldZombie (@FatsZombie) May 2, 2021
Me too. Not a fan of frivolous lawsuits or clogging the courts, but on this one – go for it. Slander, libel, emotional distress….you name it. pic.twitter.com/yLw3YoVqDy
— workerbee (@myobusa) May 3, 2021
Need them to sue and not settle. Discovery is the golden egg.
— Working Stiffsss (@Workingstiffsss) May 2, 2021
We’re going to post this with the photo of Biden making the “white power symbol” — we don’t remember people calling that a microaggression.
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