But the answer stumped all three contestants
Kathleen Hanna returned to the hallowed space that is the Jeopardy! clue board, serving as part of an answer to a question that, ultimately, none of the contestants were cool enough to get.
The clue popped up during “Double Jeopardy” as the $1200 answer in the “Let’s Rock & Roll” category: “Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna was an early icon of this great 1990s movement, fusing feminism and punk rock.” After no one buzzed in to answer — what’s known in the biz as a “triple stumper” — host Ken Jennings quipped, “She was a riot grrrl.”
This is (at least) the third time Hanna has been part of a Jeopardy! clue. According to the fan-operated site J-Archive.com, she first appeared on the board all the way back in 1997 in a “Double Jeopardy” answer in the “Women Who Rock” category: “Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill is a leader in this movement of angry Grrrls’.” Amazingly, according to J-Archive, this was also a triple stumper, even though the clue literally provided half the correct response.
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Then, in 2021, Hanna was part of a question in “Brand Names In Music,” tied to one of her most famous contributions to rock history: “Kathleen Hanna wrote ‘Smells Like’ this on a wall and Kurt Cobain used it in a song title not knowing it was a deodorant brand.” The correct response, of course, being “Teen Spirit” — which someone did get this time.
The most recent Hanna clue comes ahead of the start of a very busy and exciting few months for the riot grrrl great. First, she’ll publish her new memoir, Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk, on May 14 and embark on a book tour. Then, Bikini Kill will hit the road with a European run in June, followed by a North American leg that starts Aug. 15 in Los Angeles and wraps Sept. 11 in Baltimore.
