Sinead Butler
Nov 16, 2022
Newsy
"Celebrity Jeopardy!" has been criticised after the gameshow included a question that mentioned Brian Laundrie on Sunday's episode - with his family calling the inclusion "distasteful."
Laundrie, 23, killed his fiancee Gabby Petito, 21, while the two were on a road trip together in August last year and her body was discovered on September 19 in Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming.
After a nationwide manhunt, Laundrie’s remains were found a month later at Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida on October 20. He allegedly admitted to killing Petito in a handwritten letter and then took his own life.
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This case was mentioned in one of the questions on "Celebrity Jeopardy!" which referenced Laundrie's suicide.
"In 2021, fugitive Brian Laundrie ended his days in Fla.’s Myakkahatchee Creek area, home to these long & toothy critters," the clue read.
The answer: “What are alligators?”
Viewers took to social media to express their shock at this subject being used as a topic on the show.
Viewers were not happy about the question referencing Laundrie's suicide being included in the gameshowTwitter/mikenesto
Viewers were not happy about the question referencing Laundrie's suicide being included in the gameshowTwitter/Neely711
Viewers were not happy about the question referencing Laundrie's suicide being included in the gameshowTwitter/joel_kaczmarek
Viewers were not happy about the question referencing Laundrie's suicide being included in the gameshowTwitter/allinemiranda96
Laundrie's family have since spoken out and they have demanded an apology for the inclusion of the question.
“The entire Laundrie family is appalled and concurs with all of the comments on social media on how distasteful this was,” Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino told TMZ. “I believe an apology is due.”
Elsewhere, Petito's family filed a wrongful death suit earlier this month against Utah's Moab Police Department, with the claim that their negligence led to her death weeks later and are seeking $50m.
"There are laws put in place to protect victims. And those laws were not followed. And we don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” said Nicole Schmidt, Petito’s mother, The Guardianreported.
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