On Sunday, a contestant on The $100,000 Pyramid game show made a gaffe that he later said was “the most embarrassing moment of my life #KillMe.”
The contestant, Evan Kaufman, was participating on the show with SNL star Tim Meadows when his first prompt appeared: “People whose last name is Obama.” $100,000 Pyramid contestants must typically give their partner clues to the answer (think Jeopardy!) without spoiling the prompt itself, which the partner then guesses.
Kaufman can be seen contemplating the prompt for a second, muttering “hmm…” before saying “Bin Laden” with an unusual bit of gusto, much to Meadows’ surprise.
choking on my own tongue. pic.twitter.com/9VtRysTXEL
— bobby (@bobby) August 13, 2018
The moment quickly went viral, with people mocking Kaufman’s mental slip.
this idiot on $100,000 pyramid had the category “people with the last name obama”. he deadass paused for over five seconds and said “bin laden”. he’s a new father, god help this child
— saz (@_zaras) August 13, 2018
On Monday, Kaufman took to Twitter to give a little more context to his error, and painted a picture of an exhausted new father with “some inherent racism lurking in my brain.”
So. This is me below. Racist $100,000 Pyramid Guy. Let me tell you the story about perhaps the most embarrassing moment of my life. #KillMe (Thread 1/13) https://t.co/CcyxnxXsC9
— Evan Kaufman (@EvanKaufman) August 14, 2018
Kaufman explained by saying that he was tired due to his son being born two weeks earlier. Kaufman said that show producers had warned him about misreading the prompts. “They have no idea,” Kaufman joked.
After a bad start, Kaufman luckily made it to the last round with Meadows, and the Obama name prompt appeared. Kaufman said he began considering names besides Barack, but that he also began thinking of other people who were associated with President Obama, like Osama Bin Laden, who was killed in a military raid during the Obama presidency.
“Here’s what my brain decided,” Kaufman said on Twitter. “Who is associated with Obama? Who did he kill? What sounds like Obama!”
And so you have this perfectly viral clip. A clip that is insanely funny. It would be so funny if it wasn’t me. The editing is impeccable. The little breath I take? I’m working so hard to get it right. (9/13)
— Evan Kaufman (@EvanKaufman) August 14, 2018
And the rest is viral history.
Kaufman said the clip above doesn’t show the rest of the program, wherein Kaufman said he quickly corrected himself and gave Meadows more accurate answers. Kaufman said Meadows felt bad he couldn’t have done more for him, and that fellow actor Kathy Najimy wouldn’t look Kaufman in the eyes.
Kaufman said he left with $8,500 and “the story of the worst Pyramid guess of all-time.”
Thankfully, Twitter seems to have calmed down after Kaufman explained his saga. Even some actors chimed in with their condolences.
Evan, watching this clip it’s clear you’re a genuinely good egg who massively, catastrophically, hilariously fucked up. Enjoy it — you’re immortal now. We all love you. https://t.co/s2nYal3L4D
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 14, 2018
Evan. We love you.
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) August 15, 2018
