June 30, 2022
It’s not uncommon for Jeopardy! to include a question or two about Hip Hop these days. After all, it’s the biggest genre in the world and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2023. But clearly, not everybody is up to speed.
During a recent episode of the long-running trivia show, temporary host Mayim Bialik was reading a clue from a category called “Chuck D, Times 3.” The clue read, “In the 1990’s Chuck D began fighting the power in this hip-hop group with Flavor Flav, a man who always knew what time it was.”
To any Hip Hop head, the answer is obvious — the inimitable Chuck D — but contestant Halley Ryherd evidently didn’t study her Hip Hop history before coming on the show, answering with, “The Funky Bunch.”
The clip quickly went viral, with many wondering how someone could confuse one of the most revolutionary Hip Hop groups of all time with the “good vibrations” of Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch. But Chuck, being the humble man he is, wasn’t offended. As he told HipHopDX, “This caused a bit of an international cultural uproar. Funny.”
Everybody don’t know everything… it’s why I introduce myself wherever I go and whoever I talk to … it’s just courtesy. But the sad thing is not knowing those other Chuck Ds pic.twitter.com/gxLnyVmxCp
— Chuck D (@MrChuckD) June 30, 2022
I’ve talk to my therapist about it and I think I’m ready to forever be the person who mixed up Public Enemy and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch on @Jeopardy. #mylegacy
— Halley Ryherd (she/her) (@Halley_BuzzesIn) June 29, 2022