A journalist for a local television station in Richmond, Virginia had the best response to a transphobic email he received about Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider.
Curt Autry of NBC 12 reported on Schneider’s winning streak on Jeopardy! and noted that she is the woman who has won the most money on the show and won the most consecutive episodes of the show.
Related: Conservatives flip out as Amy Schneider becomes top female earner in Jeopardy! history
That set off a viewer named “Gretchen.”
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“Hey Curt, I saw that you somehow managed to read the story on the news last night (and with a straight face) that Amy Schneider is now the winningest woman in the history of Jeopardy!” they wrote. “You don’t see the irony there? So which is it, are you stupid and not realize that Amy is a dude or do you stay that woke 24/7?”
Autry reminded the viewer that the vast majority of the time people don’t attempt to verify someone’s sex assigned at birth before addressing them with the correct name and pronouns, so why shouldn’t that same courtesy be extended to trans people?
“Dear Gretchen, we’ve never met, so I don’t know you – but since you approached me as ‘Gretchen,’ I assume that’s how you like to be addressed, I feel no need to peek in your panties to verify it,” he responded.
“I’ll call you what makes you comfortable, the same goes for Amy. And that has nothing to do with my I-Q or how ‘woke’ I am, it’s just a simple matter of respect.”
Schneider’s winning streak lasted for 40 games on Jeopardy!, making it the second-longest winning streak in the show’s history. She’s also the first out transgender person to qualify for the Tournament of Champions and the first woman to win over $1 million on the show.
Last night, she lost to queer librarian Rhone Talsma.
