‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Kelly Donohue Speaks out Amid Hand Gesture Controversy

Jeopardy! contestant Kelly Donohue is speaking out after a hand gesture he made on Tuesday’s episode is getting a lot of attention. He posted a lengthy statement on Facebook unequivocally condemning racism and reasserting his explanation that the three-finger gesture was simply meant to denote his third win on the quiz show — not an endorsement of white supremacy.

“I’m truly horrified with what has been posted about me on social media,” Donohue wrote on Thursday. “I absolutely, unequivocally condemn white supremacy and racism of any kind. People who know me personally know that I am not a racist, but for the public at large, it bears repeating: I am not a racist and I reject and condemn white supremacy and all forms of bigotry for the evil they are.” He continued, calling it “shameful” to think that “anyone would try to use the stage of Jeopardy! to advance or promote such a disgusting agenda.”

He confirmed that during the taping of his fourth episode, he was “simply raising three fingers to mark my 3rd win,” saying “there was nothing more I was trying to indicate.” He adds how he “deeply regrets” the “terrible misunderstanding” and “never meant to hurt a soul” with the gesture. “I assure you I am no friend of racists or white supremacists.”

He also added that comments on a previous (and now deleted) post of his were “more than I could bear.” He said he understood the “fair criticism” of that post that he did not include a forceful condemnation of white supremacy and hopes that his “feelings on that matter are clear now.”

On Wednesday, a group of 467 people describing themselves as former Jeopardy! contestants issued an open letter to the show producers demanding an apology for not catching the alleged white power hand gesture. The letter, which also condemned the show’s writers over the use of a derogatory term for the Roma people, states that Donohue “held his thumb and forefinger together with his other three fingers extended and palm facing inward; and he tapped his chest.”

“This, whether intentional or not, resembled very closely a gesture that has been co-opted by white power groups, alt-right groups, and an anti-government group that calls itself the Three Percenters,” the letter continued, acknowledging that Donohue had made similar hand gestures after winning his first and second games. “Regardless of his stated intent,” the letter writers insisted, the #3 or OK gesture “is a racist dog whistle.”