November 13, 2018

Alex Trebek said the wrong thing — the Trumpish thing — about #MeToo.


I found that via WaPo, "‘A scary time for men’: Alex Trebek talks #MeToo, politics and the kind of ‘Jeopardy!’ player that bothers him."
“You know, when the #MeToo movement started, I had discussions with the staff during production meetings,” he said. “I said, ‘My gosh, this has got to be a scary time for men.... I’m fortunate that I’ve never been in a position of power where I might be able to lord it over somebody sexually. I said, ‘But there are guys out there — young guys are stupid in their teens.’ There’s nothing stupider than a teenage boy. They’re operating on testosterone.”

When [the Vulture interviewer David] Marchese responded that youth isn’t always an “acceptable excuse” and that “young men are not the only ones who are a problem,” Trebek launched into an explanation of a scene from the 1994 film “Disclosure,” starring Demi Moore and Michael Douglas.

“This conversation has taken a turn,” Marchese said.

“You took a turn,” Trebek shot back.

On social media, Trebek was almost instantly excoriated for echoing an opinion voiced by Trump as well as his son, Donald Trump Jr., and other conservatives. (Trebek, who says he is an independent, was critical of Trump during the 2016 election.)
 Here's the Vulture interview.

The message from social media is: We'll come after you if you give priority to concern for the accused. And maybe even also: We'll come after you if you voice an opinion voiced by Trump.

69 comments:

David Begley said...

The Doctor Ford of Jeopardy will emerge within 30 days.

The host of Jeopardy until December 2018.

Who was Alex Trebek?

rhhardin said...

It's not a scary time for retired men. Nobody can fire them.

Ralph L said...

It's weird how he brings #MeToo up, but we don't know how much they've rearranged.
They might have been filming the Teen Tournament (broadcasting now) about the time of the interview.

rhhardin said...

If you want the traditional chivalry from men, look to the retired guys. They still open doors, hold chairs, all that stuff.

Tommy Duncan said...

Trebek has no right to express an opinion that is contrary to the current narrative. How dare he speak out?

rhhardin said...

Tim Blair has a fired ABC producer saying she was touched inappropriately, and a picture of her, and you wonder where.

Ralph L said...

I've noticed recently that Trebek occasionally says things to or about contestants that seem benign but are insulting when you think about them.

Glen Filthie said...

Yep.

And then those sensitivity mobsters, after having made that threat, are shocked and hurt when they are told to FOAD or bring it. Real men have nothing to fear from them.

Larry J said...

There comes a time when a bully goes too far and the bullied person punches him in the nose. That time is here for these cry-bully SJWs, verbal punches at first, literal later if they don't get the message. Whenever they start throwing their feces, just tell them straight out to go fuck themselves. Don't apologize. Don't back down. Don't show any sign of weakness.

FIDO said...

This may seem like a breathless bit of 'news' for Althouse.

For men, particularly white conservative men, this isn't 'news'. It is 'olds'. The privileged weight given to a woman means that you if an accusation comes, you better keep a box ready under your desk, sir!

SJWs seem to hate reason, logic and perspective and context.

You fight them or you don't. Hand fluttering isn't particularly helpful.

TreeJoe said...

We will come after you for the following unacceptable responses...

We will attack you for anything/everything - but we won't do is attack or engage in your position head on.

And we will attack anyone who tries to engage your position directly as a sympathizer!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Bill Clinton gets away with all of his unwanted sexual advances and abuse.

Now - all the other men must pay. Guilty or not.

Ryan said...

Tell me, why is what happens on social media newsworthy?

Fernandinande said...

Claire Cifelli

Whom?

"Adrenalin addiction is rationalized as Righteous Indignation and finally, like the prophet Jonah, they are convinced, unshakably, that they do well to be angry.
...
In order to justify their behavior, they turn their theories into dogmas, their bylaws into First Principles, their political bosses into Gods and all those who disagree with them into incarnate devils…And when the current beliefs come, in their turn, to look silly, a new set will be invented, so that the immemorial madness may continue to wear its customary mask of legality, idealism, and true religion." -- Huxley

Lucid-Ideas said...

I read something in the NY Post this weekend that basically asked the question, "What if Weinstein goes free?"

https://nypost.com/2018/11/12/what-if-harvey-weinstein-walks-free/

Spacey had the charges dropped. Other accusers have turned out to be violators.

So...what happens if he goes free because the veracity of the accusations turn out to be what a lot of people secretly think they were, just more Hollywood quid pro quo.

Howling? Gnashing of teeth? Tearing of clothes?

I'm not saying I'm going to have a schadenboner from all the confirmation bias that comes out of the trial, but I'm certainly thinking it loudly.

Fernandinande said...

"What if Weinstein goes free?"

I win $10.

Tank said...

Well, between the shadenboner and the $10, that was pretty funny.

Gahrie said...

We'll come after you if you give priority to concern for the accused


It's not concern for the accused (although they deserve concern), it's concern for the process.

rehajm said...

I've noticed recently that Trebek occasionally says things to or about contestants that seem benign but are insulting when you think about them.

Back in the day when they had the Jeopardy! contestant search the game runner said during the show they had to work to keep Alex from heading down dark alleys.

They must not have been present for the interview. Not even an attempt at a smooth segue by AT.

FIDO said...

It's not concern for the accused (although they deserve concern), it's concern for the process.


Yes, to link to that fucking idiot Moyn, Cultural Marxists aren't going after undeserved privilege or CLASS; they are trying to delegitimize the PROCESSES of the Western World, because they don't 'own' that process and that process inhibits their rise to power.

Alex Trebek doesn't even defend the process. He SYMPATHIZES with men and wonders at if there is any defense the witch hunt.


The SJWs can't allow a defense. A defense is to inhibit their power.

Michael McNeil said...

It's not a scary time for retired men. Nobody can fire them.

I wouldn't get complacent. I can easily imagine a popular wave of enthusiasm — in conjunction with a Democratic controlled Congress and courts — for stripping retired but MeToo-accused men of their “ill-gotten gains” from Social Security and maybe even pensions. Who knows how the (Democratic-controlled) courts would rule as to its legality?

tcrosse said...

Say, who is this Turds Ferguson fellow?

Henry said...

The most surprising thing in the quote is the word "gosh".

Tina Trent said...

Maybe they can replace him with Will Ferrell, who plays him in comedy skits, once Will gets done alienating half or more of his core audience by going door to door in Georgia for racist candidate Stacey Abrams, who has said in recent days that people who didn't vote for here weren't evolved, that a vote for her opponent was going back to the bad old days, and also had her staff thuggishly shout her primary opponent off a stage by screaming that white women should shut up in the presence of black women.

So Ferrell should have no problems with the speech police as Trebeck did: he's chosen the right answer in the "oppressing the speech of others for $200" category.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Oh, please. It's a game show host. How does this stuff even register?

Jim said...

As a 3X Jeopardy! Champ in the 80’s, let me say that Alex is a nice person to his contestants. Let me also say that the trend towards word puzzle questions is definitely not towards my strength. In the olden days we contestants got to eat lunch on the set of Soul Train between the taping of Wednesday and Thursday shows (they tape a week in one day).

Bob Boyd said...

"There’s nothing stupider than a teenage boy."

That may have been true for a long time, but the times they are a changin'.

SeanF said...

Gahrie: It's not concern for the accused (although they deserve concern), it's concern for the process.

First, the comment of Trebek's which drew condemnation was, "[T]his has got to be a scary time for men," which is clearly expressing concern for the accused.

Secondly, what reason is there to be concerned with the process, if not to protect the accused?

Bob Boyd said...

"which is clearly expressing concern for the accused."

I took it as also expressing concern for men generally, most of whom haven't been accused...yet.

"Secondly, what reason is there to be concerned with the process, if not to protect the accused?"

The concern that people would have to live in fear of being accused and subjected to the process.

gahrie said...

Secondly, what reason is there to be concerned with the process, if not to protect the accused?

We must preserve the process, even with, perhaps especially with, the guilty. The Left is pushing to abandon the process and jump from accusation to sentence. I'm not willing to trash hundreds of years of progress to satisfy the demands of those who can never be satisfied.

Jon Burack said...

When all of #UsToo gets up in their face as Trump does, they will be deflated and fade away. It is past time for any sentient being to have any doubt that groveling before them or acceding even slightly to their rage, will do anything but excite that rage even more. So get up in their face, already, will you all? It's YOUR country, too, you know. To quote the opening of the Romanoffs, "you don't have to live like a refugee."

Big Mike said...

Wrong title on this post, Althouse. Alex Trebek sId the right thing!

Caligula said...

""What if Weinstein goes free?"

So, what if he does? He may have been a monster, but somehow "being a monster" doesn't seem to be in the criminal code.

What's coming out is that although he seems to have bullied some (many?) women into providing sexual services, at least some of the sex was transactional in that some women chose to give him what he wanted in return for special considerations in their careers.

The root problem in reacting to "what if Weinstein goes free" is that #MeToo is Manichean in its insistance that all sexual events must be characterised as purely good or unspeakably evil, yet the real world is just not so simple as that.

Men with power (esp. if they're ugly) sometimes use that power to bully sexual compliance, but, some attractive women are willing to use their sexual assets to advance themselves ahead of women who either lack comparable assets or are unwilling to engage in transactional sex. Plus the inevitable murk wherein a woman willingly engages in transactional sex but is then paid less than she thinks she's worth.

Arguably the most aggreived here are those whose careers stalled because they chose not to engage in transactional sex (or had little to offer that anyone wanted), but, their complaints would not only be against Weinstein but also against those women willing to use sex to advance themselves ahead of others who might have as much or more talent.

#MeToo has positioned itself as a fundamentalist moral crusade and, fueled by righteous rage as it is and unwilling to admit to any possible moral ambiguities, is ill-equipped to engage with those who, being less than totally engorged on rage, insist that rage and a presumed moral certainty can never be allowed to trump due process.

Not even for accused monsters.

gilbar said...

Michael McNeil said... I can easily imagine a popular wave of enthusiasm — in conjunction with a Democratic controlled Congress and courts for stripping retired but MeToo-accused men of their “ill-gotten gains” from Social Security and maybe even pensions.

YES! but why stop there? If woman accuses a man of touching (or looking (or Thinking)) in an inappropriate way; shouldn't that man be put to death by hanging, right then and there?
#WE MUST ALWAYS BELIEVE THE ACCUSER (If, the accuser is not a republican, of course!).

Since our courts are still hung up on the whole 'evidence' thing;
aren't we OBLIGATED to take the ropes of justice into our own hands, and hang those accused of this?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Just in time.

Lewinsky, on Bill Clinton:

“If you want to know what power looks like, watch a man safely, even smugly, do interviews for decades, without ever worrying whether he will be asked the questions he doesn’t want to answer.”

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Perhaps the Clintons should run again. I never tire of watching Hillary lose.

It does get exhausting though. You'd think the left would finally understand it's time to move past the Clinton power-money machine. After all, the Clintons are not in it for the American people, they are in it for power and money.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...


Imagine if Trump had sex in the oval office with a 22 year old intern. Crica now - not tens years ago words on tape.

n.n said...

Social progress requires warlock trials, human sacrifices, and color judgments.

n.n said...

Trebek has been pushing the transgender spectrum. It was only a matter of time before there emerged a conflict with traditional female chauvinism. Or perhaps that's the proposed solution. Does #MeToo follow involuntary or superior exploitation of females and neo-females by the same?

n.n said...

a popular wave of enthusiasm — in conjunction with a Democratic controlled Congress and courts — for stripping retired but MeToo-accused men of their “ill-gotten gains”

Jew... I mean, White [male] privilege, is the progenitor to redistributive and, perhaps, retributive change.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

It is a scary time for men. White female progressive supremacists in pussy hats who are offended by words on tape - but are NOT offended by anything Bill Clinton ever did - are gunning for you.

No due process for you.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rehajm said...

Hillary has a right to the White House. Just like Jim Acosta.

n.n said...

chose not to engage in transactional sex

Social conservativism. #PrinciplesMatter

their complaints would not only be against Weinstein but also against those women willing to use sex to advance themselves

Sexual liberalism. #NoJudgmentSelective

It is a scary time for men.

And for "white girls next door" (hat tip Hope Solo, The Guardian). Rabid diversity (i.e. color before character) is a progressive condition (PC).

Howard said...

In her twitter avatar photo, Claire is holding a giant phallus with both hands and smiling. That's scary.

PM said...

"I'll take Bygone Excuses for 800."
"It was finally eliminated in 2022."
"What is...war?"
"If only. No. What is testosterone."

Howard said...

Dickin Bimbos still fantasizes about Bill Clinton's cigar. yuck

Geoff Matthews said...

Trebek was independent? I didn't know he was a citizen (he was born in Canada).

Christy said...

The saddest part of the recent election are the exit polls telling us suburban women don't love their sons.

Lucid-Ideas said...

Caligula said, "...but, their complaints would not only be against Weinstein but also against those women willing to use sex to advance themselves ahead of others who might have as much or more talent."

Of course not, because #noenemiestotheleft, #allmenbad and #sisterhoodnotvictimhood

"Don't try to understand women Bud. Women understand women, and they hate each other." - Al Bundy

Big Mike said...

Althouse wrote that she taught classes in Evidence. #MeToo wants to change her syllabus — to a sheet of paper blank on both sides.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Protests planned for clinton tour. crown of cigars - Howard. Crown of cigars.

n.n said...

that youth isn’t always an “acceptable excuse” and that “young men are not the only ones who are a problem,”

Not always, selective, sometimes opportunistic.

#GirlsToo #WomenToo It's a Pro-Choice, Pro-Choice, Pro-Choice, Pro-Choice moral and legal order.

Nonapod said...

On some level I'm still confused as to why some celebrities feel they have to even comment on #metoo at all. Why risk angering one group or one side of the debate over the other? If I were a celebrity I would keep quiet and keep my head down and hope it all blows over.

I guess people feel obligated to take a stand though. And maybe they're right, I don't know. I'm just tired of all the endless acrimony in our popular culture.

bagoh20 said...

"On social media, Trebek was almost instantly excoriated..."

Wow! That never happens.

When the pearl-clutching puritans start up their hourly outrage program, people need to just start saying "Fuck off", on TV, on the radio, online. There is no arguing with child in a tantrum.

rhhardin said...

You're the boss? We have a real-life Judi Dench in our midst. You are the boss, and yet you have not sacrificed one ounce of femininity. Why have we been spending all of this time talking to the men, when this being has been floating through the halls of the building? Oh, my God!

- That's a compliment.

- That is the Beyonce of the government.

I have so much respect for you that it has circled around into objectification.

The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)

Howard said...

Blogger Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...

Protests planned for clinton tour. crown of cigars - Howard. Crown of cigars.


You Go, Grrrrrrrrrl

James K said...

Taranto links to a story about how Facebook fired a top exec for supporting Trump, after first pressuring him to lie and say he supported Gary Johnson.

Matt Sablan said...

Wow. If they actually pressured him to *lie* about his political opinions, I'd say that an enterprising lawyer could find something to sue over.

As for Trebek: Is there a recording of the interview? They make it sound like he's erratically pinballing between topics, but... given that he says he hates it when people do that on the Jeopardy board (a thing I would do if I were on it because the whole lame go down a column thing is BORING), it sounds weird for him to do it. Who knows?

Matt Sablan said...

"Secondly, what reason is there to be concerned with the process, if not to protect the accused?"

-- A flawed process can ensnare guilty men, but it undermines our confidence in them being guilty. One can be for a good process to ensure the guilty don't get to pretend a corrupt process trapped them, not their own guilt.

Richard Dolan said...

It's weird how these back-and-forths on Twitter take on such an importance. From what I can tell (I don't use Twitter, Facebook. etc.), it's important mostly to the inhabitants of deepest Lefty Land -- universities, media, Silicon Valley and the woke yackosphere more generally. It's as if the battles among the Partisan Review crowd from the '40s and '50s (see Podhoretz' Making It and Ex-Friends) have been time-warped and gone viral (and been dumbed-down in the process).

SeanF said...

Matthew Sablan: A flawed process can ensnare guilty men, but it undermines our confidence in them being guilty. One can be for a good process to ensure the guilty don't get to pretend a corrupt process trapped them, not their own guilt.

Fair point, Matthew. Thanks.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I want to add Monica Lewinski's fresh tweet from today. It's so great.

“If you want to know what power looks like, watch a man safely, even smugly, do interviews for decades, without ever worrying whether he will be asked the questions he doesn’t want to answer.”

ALP said...

Ugh, the comments on that WaPo article are atrocious. Does no one see the era of Thought Crime is nearly upon us? Once we normalize the act of castigating someone for mere words - the power balance can shift and guess what: Thought Crimes are not so much fun any more.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Indeed ALP. It might sound crazy to call the collective left an army of Fidel Castro's - but that is what they are, for the most part.

JaimeRoberto said...

Trebek has been critical of Trump? Isn't he Canadian? Foreign meddling! Collusion!

HoneyBee said...

Caligula at 9:42 AM has my vote.

tcrosse said...

Trebek has been critical of Trump? Isn't he Canadian? Foreign meddling! Collusion!

Trebek is a naturalized US citizen. But we should still build that wall.

n.n said...

Trebek thought he was safe in a transgender spectrum, but there are many social rackets, and his protection payments are not fungible. Thus are the conditions of a Pro-Choice moral order and society.