Celebrity Jeopardy! Bashed by Brian Laundrie's Family After 'Distasteful' Clue: 'An Apology is Due'

Brian Laundrie's family is demanding an apology from Celebrity Jeopardy! after his suicide was referenced in a clue this weekend. 

Laundrie committed suicide last year and left behind a written confession taking responsibility for killing girlfriend Gabby Petito. 

John Michael Higgins, Wil Wheaton, and Joel Kim Booster competed in Sunday's episode, where they were given the following clue referencing Laundrie and Gabby Petito. "In 2021 fugitive Brian Laundrie ended his days in Fla.'s Myakkahatchee Creek area, home to these long & toothy critters," read the clue. Booster correctly answered "alligators", but the question left many wondering why it was necessary to reference the tragic case. 

"The entire Laundrie family is appalled and concurs with all of the comments on social media on how distasteful this was. I believe an apology is due," said Laundrie family attorney Steve Bertolino. 

The Laundries aren't the only ones upset about the clue; viewers took to Twitter during the episode to express their surprise about the "gross" quiz show moment.  

Wow @Jeopardy that Brian Laundrie clue was in bad taste. You could have gotten to “alligator” any other way. Why bring him up? Gross.

— Lexi Luthor (@LexiLuthor) November 14, 2022

I’m kinda shocked that Jeopardy used Brian Laundrie, the murderer from FL, in a clue about alligators. I’m pretty sure they could have used better judgment and gotten that answer another way. Bad taste @Jeopardy

— TawneyQ 🌻🧡🇺🇦 (@tawney_ss) November 14, 2022

Yikes, what the fuck was that clue referencing Brian Laundrie to get to the response of "alligator"?? So unnecessarily morbid. Could have said anything related to Florida and gotten there.#CelebrityJeopardy

— Lilly (@OneEclecticMom) November 14, 2022

Celebrity Jeopardy! airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC.

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Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines and harboring dad-aged celebrity crushes. She was previously a reporter/producer at Decider and is a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.