Wheel of Misfortune

Pat Sajak’s Racism Lands on Bankrupt

Jeffrey Kass
ZORA
Published in
3 min readMay 22, 2024

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AI-Generated picture of Racism on a Wheel of Fortune Puzzle Board
Image: AI-Generated/Shutterstock

My 80-year-old mother has been watching TV’s “Wheel of Fortune” religiously for nearly all its almost 50 years. I was 5 when the show first aired.

Pat Sajak took over the reins of the game show in 1981, but after 43 years, he and his half smiles and snarky jokes are finally retiring on June 7, 2024.

Viewers may not know it, but beneath Sajak’s on-air corny humor was a far-right-wing, extreme, racist man.

The 1975 show’s original host, Chuck Woolery, was racist himself, stating that he didn’t believe in civil rights based on race or gender. He’s said, “Racism has nothing to do with race,” and he’s tweeted Hitler crap. He even told Jewish jokes on air.

But the first glimpse of Woolery’s successor’s racism didn’t surface until 2010. Sajak hadn’t revealed his views publicly before then.

“On my game show recently, an African American contestant mentioned that he could teach anyone to be a Hip-Hop singer. I leaned over to him and stage-whispered, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m hopelessly Caucasian.’”

That wasn’t the real hint of Sajak’s racism.

Here’s where Sajak showed off his true feelings about Black people and utter lack of empathy.

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ZORA
ZORA

Published in ZORA

A publication from Medium that centers the stories, poetry, essays and thoughts of women of color.

Jeffrey Kass
Jeffrey Kass

Written by Jeffrey Kass

A Medium Top Writer on Racism, Diversity, Education, History and Parenting | Speaker | Award-Winning Author | Latest Book: Black Batwoman V. White Jesus | Dad

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