{"id":5895,"date":"2026-08-01T15:36:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5895"},"modified":"2026-08-01T15:36:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:36:41","slug":"ken-jennings-triggers-outrage-after-joke-about-trans-protest-of-ny-times-word-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5895","title":{"rendered":"Ken Jennings triggers outrage after joke about trans protest of NY Times word games"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cJeopardy!\u201d host Ken Jennings sparked online debate Thursday after using sarcasm to dismiss calls from transgender activists to boycott\u00a0The New York Times\u2019\u00a0word games.<\/p>\n

Read more Exclusive | Jew-hating Cornell student begging for cash online after parents kick him out of their house<\/a><\/p>\n

Jennings sarcastically claimed he received \u201cexpress permission from the trans community\u201d to keep his games subscription, taking aim at demands that readers boycott all New York Times products. <\/p>\n

The joke has since sparked pushback from transgender activists online, who accused him of trivializing their concerns.<\/p>\n

The exchange began on the social media platform Bluesky, where Jennings posted screenshots of the\u00a0New York Times\u2019 game Spelling Bee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He wrote, \u201cMy wife and I have a game where we try to invent the day\u2019s grossest-sounding word on NYT Spelling Bee.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, a user on the platform\u00a0reposted his comment,\u00a0saying, \u201cI wish people who care about trans people could understand that playing nyt games is still an insult to trans people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the user\u2019s comment,\u00a0Jennings replied,\u00a0\u201cThis may be true of others but I actually got express permission from the trans community to keep NYT games and recipes. I also have a news subscription, which is arguably worse, so I had to specifically send in a written request. Took 30 days but I got approved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennings added, \u201cThey were like \u2018Trans people are not a monolith\u2019 and \u2018Like-minded allies may disagree on specific media boycotts\u2019 and stuff like that. It was a huge load off my mind!\u201d<\/p>\n

The user responded, \u201cI was being sincere and serious, but thanks for turning it into a joke. that feels great.\u201d On Friday,\u00a0the user noted\u00a0that Jennings had not contacted them since and made \u201cno effort to apologize or acknowledge that he was an a\u2013hole about trans people. No lessons learned it seems. I was really hoping for some sign he understood why people are so upset.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the replies, some Bluesky commenters told Jennings to \u201cread the f\u2014ing room\u201d and called his response \u201cdismissive.\u201d <\/p>\n

Others commented on his original post and questioned whether he was going to apologize for the comment.<\/p>\n

Read more Stephen A. Smith offers surprising apology to Kyrie Irving about COVID vaccine after watching Fauci hearing<\/a><\/p>\n

Journalist and \u201cBlocked and Reported\u201d podcast co-host\u00a0Jesse Singal, who often reports on internet culture, told Fox News Digital that the outrage reflects the platform itself rather than everyday sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m guessing the average trans person\u00a0is orders of magnitude more likely to play NYT games than to get mad at others for doing so,\u201d he said. \u201cBluesky, like all hyperpartisan social-media platforms, has a tendency to concentrate users with extremely strong and rigid views in the same place, at which point certain ugly pressure-cooker dynamics set in, causing normies to flee for their sanity and leaving behind a group of addled internet-radicals engaged in a desperate game of rhetorical oneupmanship (there are no winners),\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see a similar dynamic among certain right-wingers on X, in fact, where the craziest stuff naturally centers not on left-coded concerns like trans rights but on right-coded ones like immigration,\u201d Singal added.<\/p>\n

For several years,\u00a0transgender activists\u00a0have spoken out against The New York Times over what they\u2019ve described as anti-trans coverage, arguing that web traffic and subscriptions to products like its games financially support the outlet.<\/p>\n

In 2023, hundreds of New York Times contributors, along with thousands of subscribers,\u00a0signed an open letter\u00a0to the paper condemning its coverage of transgender issues. <\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The LGBTQ+ advocacy group\u00a0GLAAD also sent a letter,\u00a0calling out \u201cirresponsible, biased coverage of transgender people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennings has previously voiced support for transgender rights, even taking to Bluesky in July 2025 to call out California Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s stance on transgender youth, after Newsom stated he did\u00a0not think it was fair\u00a0for transgender athletes to compete in girls\u2019 sports.<\/p>\n

Responding to a user who said he would \u201cnever, ever\u201d vote for Newsom,\u00a0Jennings wrote,\u00a0\u201cThis is correct. Any candidate cynically \u2018triangulating\u2019 on trans kids is a non-starter, and now is the time to say so. There\u2019s still so much time to advance candidates that DON\u2019T suck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital reached out to Jennings for comment but did not immediately receive a response.<\/p>\n

Read more USA\u2019s most sexually adventurous states revealed in new study<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cJeopardy!\u201d host Ken Jennings sparked online fury with a sarcastic jab at trans activists boycotting The New York Times\u2019 games. Jennings joked he got \u201cexpress permission from the trans community\u201d to keep his NYT games subscription, trivializing their concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"yoast_head":"\nKen Jennings triggers outrage after joke about trans protest of NY Times word games - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5895\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ken Jennings triggers outrage after joke about trans protest of NY Times word games - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cJeopardy!\u201d host Ken Jennings sparked online fury with a sarcastic jab at trans activists boycotting The New York Times\u2019 games. 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