Jeopardy! Apologizes Following Outcry Over ‘Outdated and Inaccurate’ Medical ‘Grinch’ Clue

Jeopardy! issued an apology following backlash from fans over the use of an “outdated and inaccurate” medical term on Monday night’s show.

The show, guest-hosted by Savannah Guthrie, apologized on Tuesday for using the term “Grinch syndrome” to describe postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, which, according to Johns Hopkins, is a disorder of the autonomic nervous system.

John Hopkins additionally marked POTS as a blood circulation disorder, characterizing the condition based on an increase in heart rate in patients who go from horizontal to standing upright.

Jeopardy! gave this answer to Monday’s contestants under the category “Plain-Named Maladies”:

“Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome is also known as Grinch syndrome because this organ is too small.”

The correct answer was, “What is the heart?”

Angry viewers, along with Dysautonomia International, a non-profit organization that supports research for autonomic nervous system disorders, quickly condemned the clue, calling the term “Grinch syndrome” both “misogynistic” and “offensive.”

This appeared on Jeopardy tonight. Grinch syndrome is an offensive term. Can you imagine Jeopardy making light of cancer or MS patients with a “funny” name for their debilitating health condition? Not acceptable. We’d love to see real questions about the autonomic nervous system. pic.twitter.com/kqetij1Jwx

— Dysautonomia Intl. (@Dysautonomia) June 22, 2021

“Promoting outdated misogynistic terms to describe a debilitating autonomic nervous system disorder that impacts millions of Americans is not cool. We request an apology on behalf of our community,” read the tweet. “Do better.”

Jeopardy! issued an apology on Tuesday in response to the backlash, acknowledging that they used an “outdated and inaccurate” term to describe the disorder:

Yesterday’s program included a clue about postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). After hearing from the community, we found we used an outdated and inaccurate term for this disorder, and we apologize.

— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) June 22, 2021

The apology was later accepted in a tweet by Dysautonomia International — the nonprofit also adding a link to an informational video about POTS:

Thank you @Jeopardy! We very much appreciate this. To learn about #POTS, please check out our What is POTS video: https://t.co/BYH9JsedgZ. https://t.co/vSCrRH1Hwj

— Dysautonomia Intl. (@Dysautonomia) June 22, 2021

Lillie Lainoff, a disability rights activist and founder of the Facebook group Disabled Kidlt Writers, also thanked Jeopardy! for the apology, yet questioned how the term made it on air in the first place.

Thank you for the apology. However, we still don’t have an explanation as to how this term made it to air. It’s a term almost everyone with POTS hasn’t even heard of.
If there were more disabled and chronically-ill people working for you, this wouldn’t have happened.

— Lillie Lainoff (@lillielainoff) June 22, 2021

“It’s a term almost everyone with POTS hasn’t even heard of,” Lainoff added. “If there were more disabled and chronically-ill people working for you, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Watch above, via KTVK.