‘Jeopardy!’ Host Alex Trebek Thinks Having A Tan And An Afro Made Him A ‘Brotha’
Iconic television game show host, Canadian-American Alex Trebek, has been hosting Jeopardy! since the show went through a revival back in 1984. The famous show has become synonymous with the phrase, “Please answer in the form of a question.”
TMZ’s Harvey Levin hosted Trebek on OBJECTified, his show on Fox News. Trebek, now 78 years-old, told the TMZ journalist that years back, someone mistook him for a brother of late Gregory Hines, cites The Grio.
During his talk with Levin, Trebek remarked on his prior afro and tanned skin, saying that he was in the “Afro-American community as a ‘brotha,'” among other potentially controversial remarks. Meanwhile, as Trebek was speaking, Levin appeared to be restraining laughter.
“Someone came up to me after and said, ‘I saw you and your brother talking over there…I’m out there in the Afro-American community as a ‘brotha’.”
While making the statement, Trebek threw his fist up in what is commonly recognized as, and could easily be interpreted as, the symbol of a black power fist. As many have reported, one issue some may take from Trebek’s comment is that he referred to the community as the “Afro-American” rather than simply saying the black community or the African American community, since “Afro-American” has not been used in close to 30 years.
Alex Trebek talks about when he had the afro, the moustache, a very dark tan and how he was out there in the African American community as a ‘brother.’ OBJECTified: Alex Trebek this Sunday on Fox News at 8p ET / 5p PT and again at 11p ET / 8p PT pic.twitter.com/zOaEhf1mjs
— TMZ (@TMZ) July 27, 2018
Trebek explained that in the 1980s, The United Negro College Fund approached him to join them. He recalled the event, detailing it by saying, “I ran into Gregory Hines, the dancer. Someone came up to me after and said ‘I saw you and your brother talking over there,'” Then Trebek continued to speak on about his afro hair, tanned skin, and mustache during those years.
Since the clip has gone viral, Twitter is having a field day with Trebek’s interview with memes and other posts.
“Now keep in mind, at this stage in my career I had the afro, I had the mustache, and a very dark tan.”
— jujoffer (@jujoffer) July 27, 2018
One user, @womanyst, responded to the original post, using a gif of an Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit featuring Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek and Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery on Celebrity Jeopardy! Fake Sean Connery is laughing it up on @womanyst’s tweet.
Kathryn Krawczyk, assistant editor for The Week, also weighed in on the interview with Trebek, saying, “I’ll take “cringeworthy comments” for $1,000, Alex.”
Trebek has also hosted a number of television game shows besides Jeopardy!, such as Battlestars, To Tell the Truth, Double Dare, High Roller, Classic Connection, and The Wizard of Odds.
