“Had we accepted ‘gangster,’ the other contestants would have a very good reason to complain, in that the title of the song is ‘Gangsta’s Paradise,’ and we would have accepted something that is not the title,” the producers said, according to Ms. Shapiro. “Every ruling we make not only affects the contestant who responded, but their opponents as well.”

But another leading authority came to Mr. Spicher’s defense: Coolio told TMZ he thought the answer should have counted.

“I probably would have gave it to him,” the rapper said.

But he also offered a linguistic lesson.

“This is for white people,” he said. “The E-R will always get you in trouble.”

There is a history of “Jeopardy!” judges being sticklers for pronunciation. In 2015, Rob Russell’s game unraveled on a $2,000 Daily Double because he pronounced “foliage” as “foilage,” a common regionalism that was once mocked on “The Simpsons.” In February 2016, Bill Murphy was originally given credit for naming France’s second-busiest seaport as Le Havre, but it was overturned because he pronounced it in a way that rhymes with the former Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre.

In October 2017, Austin Rogers got an $800 question wrong because he pronounced “sherbet” as “sherbert.”