'Jeopardy!' viewers outraged over clue about Brian Laundrie

Many viewers of "Celebrity Jeopardy!" Sunday recoiled at a clue oddly evoking the murder of Blue Point-raised Gabby Petito by her fiance, Brian Laundrie, who after a police search was found dead by suicide in a Florida nature reserve.

“In 2021 fugitive Brian Laundrie ended his days in Fla’s Myakkahatchee Creek area, home to these long & toothy critters,” came the $200 clue, read by actor Mayim Bialik. Contestant Joel Kim Booster, the executive producer, star and co-writer of this year's Long Island-set gay romantic comedy "Fire Island,” who was competing against actors John Michael Higgins and Wil Wheaton, correctly responded "What are alligators?"

“Wow,” read one terse Twitter comment, "that’s incredibly insensitive." "Saw that and was completely stunned and disgusted," read another post.

Some comments were more expansive in their incredulity. "I could not believe it. Millions of ways to get an answer of Alligator without bringing murderers into it. C'mon Jeopardy," wrote one person. Said another, "[What] was that Brian Laundrie question on #Jeopardy when the answer was just ‘alligator'?? Y’all couldn’t have gotten to alligator AAAAAANY other way????"

Many questioned the appropriateness of adding to Laundrie's infamy, with one person noting, "I’m sorry but this upsets me. He shouldn’t be getting his name ANYWHERE. It sickens me. He would actually LOVE this attention." Addressing the pain and suffering Petito's parents been enduring, one person suggested that, "If I were the Petitos, I’d be having my attorney get in contact with producers for making a mockery of their daughters death, and making money off her death. Not sure if that’s something that can be done?"

Some tried to discern the thought process that went into this clue being aired. "How was this even approved?" asked one person. "Surely there are other ways to come up with Alligator." Another person reasoned, "It feels like it started as a dark joke at the writers brainstorming session, then morphed into a dare. Surprised it got final approval."

And a handful used parody in order to starkly highlight the clue's inappropriateness. "After years of murdering innocent men, [cannibal serial killer Jeffrey] Dahmer loved to spend his extra time drinking these types of canned beers," one person wrote. Another said similarly that the clue was "literally the equivalent of using Jeffrey Dahmer to get to the word[s] 'pabst blue ribbon [beer].' This is disgusting."

The 22-year-old Petito and fellow Bayport-Blue Point High School graduate Laundrie had embarked on a cross-country road trip last year that culminated in her disappearance, the recovery of her body in Wyoming that September and an autopsy determining she died of strangulation. Laundrie, in a notebook found with his remains, confessed to killing her.

A representative for "Jeopardy!" had not yet returned a Newsday request for comment.