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Dangerous fan! Three contestants were asked to raise their eyebrows after failing to identify James Earl Jones in a recent episode.
On Monday, September 15th, on a long-running episode of the game show, Ryan Sharp and Kelsi Tyler competed against former winner Paolo Pasco, facing a category full of clues related to Sesame Street.
Host Ken Jennings introduced Oscar the Grousers in more than a little while in the middle of that part.
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“Over the years, many people have stopped by Sesame Street like Alex Trebeck and Ken Jennings,” the Green Muppets said from his famous trash can. “Why can’t they leave the grouts alone? But at first it was this guy who recited the alphabet for us.”
As he read his clues, black and white photos of the late actor from his youth appeared on screen, showing him as he announced his guests on a show with his beloved children.
A few seconds passed, the buzzer rang, informing the competitor that his chance to respond was over.
“It’s James Earl Jones,” Jennings said of Emmy, Tony, a Grammy-winning American actor and voice performer who passed away on September 9, 2024 at the age of 93.
With dangerously shared clips! On their Instagram account, fans paid tribute to the competitor’s lack of knowledge regarding the actor.
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“Sorry, I know Rocco the Rock, but don’t you know James Earl Jones? I’ll cry,” one person wrote. Another commented, “Is it literally not that I didn’t know James Earl Jones?!”
“James Earl Jones, no one knew he’d go straight to prison,” another fan wrote, but another fan said, “I cried James Earl Jones on my phone multiple times.”
Throughout Jones’ decades of career, he appeared in Sandlot and came to America and the field of dreams. However, he was also known to voice Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise and Mufasa in the classic 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King.
Shortly before the news of his death, Lupita Nyonggo spoke exclusively to people at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8th, where she recalls how she “sees The Lion King many times” as a child.
“The Lion King featured Swahili in it, so I’m from Kenya so I heard Swahili in Disney movies and blew my mind,” said Nyongo, 42.
Jesse Dittmar of the Washington Post via Getty
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Jones also made his mark on Broadway.
“He led an example of how we should all aim to be artists and humans,” Annaly Ashford told people. “James Earle appeared to rehearse from the book. He was the first person in the theatre, and he left at the end, always working to make performances greater tomorrow than he did today.
“We are fortunate enough that he has decorated the stage and screen to teach us through his art and his heart,” she added. “Oh, I miss those smiles, those eyes, and those voices. His soul lives on through the magic of the characters he has blessed us.”
