Larry King died last week at the age of 87, a month after being hospitalized with COVID-19. King, who was born Lawrence Zeiger to Jewish immigrants from Belarus, had a more than six decade career in television, radio, and digitial media, conducting thousands of interviews with actors, presidents, sports figures, world leaders, and so many others. Early in his career, what gaffe did King commit during an interview?

Starmus2017_LarryKing_Trondheim Spektrum by NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

A. King’s first broadcasting job was at a radio station in Miami Beach. He did interviews with local people, discussing their daily lives. For one show, he invited on a Black man who was a member of the station’s cleaning crew. The broadcast was cut off almost immediately, as King had no idea that in Miami in 1957 it was not acceptable to interview a Black man on a white radio station.

B. In the mid-1960’s, King interviewed the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Trying to be funny, Larry King asked, “Is it true that we’re related?” Dr. King responded, “Well, sir, many of my people are related to your people. Do you really want to discuss why that is?”

C. King’s first celebrity interview was with singer Bobby Darin. King asked him about his recording of Roses Are Red (My Love), which was in fact a Bobby Vinton song.

D. In the late 1950’s King moved to Miami Beach where he got a job at WAHR radio. One of his first interview guests was the president of the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana. At one point in the interview King said, “I’m pretty new to Miami. Can you recommend a place to get tacos,” not realizing that tacos are not part of traditional Cuban cuisine.

E. When King was 23 years, old, he interviewed a Catholic priest and asked him how many children he had.

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A few hundred Chassidic Jews crowded in front of the Satmar Meats & Takeout in Brooklyn last Friday afternoon, and eventually the police were called. Most of the Chassidim were not wearing masks and did not socially distance. Why did they all gather at that location?

D38A077715636 by Chabad Lubavitch is licensed under CC BY 2.0 and was taken before the COVID-19 pandemic

A. The Chassidim were protesting Governor Cuomo and his attempt to enforce stricter public health rules which many in the Chassidic community believe interfere with their religious rights.

B. They were celebrating the birth of a baby boy in an apartment above the butcher. The boy is the grandson of the Grand Rebbe of the Satmar community, Aaron Teitelbaum.

C. The Chassidim were members of the Bobover sect of Chassidim, and they were protesting the opening of a Satmar butcher shop in their neighborhood.

D. They were lining up for COVID vaccines that were being given out on a first-come, first-served basis at the Hatzolah of Boro Park health clinic located upstairs from the butcher.

E. The Chassidim were watching a raccoon that was stuck in the window grate above the kosher butcher until the police removed it.

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Entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, just became the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $195 billion, surpassing Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon. Musk responded to that news with a simple six word statement, “How strange, well, back to work.” Musk, who is often mistakenly thought to be Jewish, visited Israel in 2018, meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, dining in Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda market, and pouring himself a flaming absinthe in a Jerusalem bar. Musk also went to Masada and posted a selfie from there on Instagram, with what pithy caption?

Elon Musk by Daniel Oberhaus is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A. I have been to the mountaintop.

B. Live free or die.

C. I could easily make that cable car solar powered.

D. In God we trust.

E. Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose.

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In the 2016 race for the Republican presidential nomination, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump were hostile rivals, with Trump claiming falsely that Cruz’s father was connected with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Trump also attacked Cruz’s wife, and in particular, insulted her looks. In response, Ted Cruz said that Trump was a “pathological liar,” “utterly amoral,” and a “serial philanderer.” Yet Cruz went on to become a Trump supporter, and he is now leading an effort by a dozen Republican senators to have Congress overturn the democratic election of President-Elect Joe Biden based on completely false and irrational claims of voter fraud. This, despite numerous court cases on the matter, none of which have been successful. During Ted Cruz’s 2016 campaign, he went with Rabbi Zev Reichman (the director of the Mechina Program at Yeshiva University) to a fundraising event. What did Cruz do that impressed Rabbi Reichman?

Ted Cruz by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

A. Cruz arrived late because he wanted to finish his bacon sandwich before getting into the rabbi’s car.

B. Cruz showed up already wearing a yarmulke.

C. Cruz greeted the rabbi by saying “Shalom Aleichem.”

D. Cruz offered the rabbi a cookie from a bag he was carrying, but first showed him the kosher certification on the package.

E. Cruz made his wife sit alone in the back seat of the rabbi’s car, telling her it was the women’s section.

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