Dankey Kang is a photoshopped Jeopardy! screenshot from January 2014 that shows a Sonic the Hedgehog clue answered with the misspelled name 'Who is Dankey Kang?', created by cartoonist Mike Rosenthal.

Where did Dankey Kang come from?

Cartoonist Mike Rosenthal tweeted the doctored image on January 8th, 2014, using a base screencap from a real 2010 Final Jeopardy round originally uploaded to YouTube by user gemintech.

What does Dankey Kang mean?

It's a deliberately misspelled version of Donkey Kong, Nintendo's gorilla character, given as the answer to a Sonic the Hedgehog clue, making the response wrong in both name and character.

How do you use Dankey Kang?

The format is a Jeopardy! screencap edited so a contestant's written answer is obviously wrong or misspelled, a template Rosenthal himself extended the same week with 'Who is Princess Zorldo?'.

Is Dankey Kang still popular?

The hashtag #DankeyKang trended on Twitter in January 2014 and the image bounced across Reddit, DeviantArt, Tumblr and NeoGAF within the same week, and is still referenced as a classic edited game show screenshot.

Dankey Kang

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Published August 17, 2026

Dankey Kang is a photoshopped Jeopardy! screenshot from January 2014 that pairs a Sonic the Hedgehog clue with the misspelled answer 'Who is Dankey Kang?', a mangling of Nintendo's Donkey Kong. Cartoonist Mike Rosenthal made the fake image, which went viral on Twitter and was often mistaken for a real game show flub.

photoshop memes hoax memes misspelling memes nintendo memes gaming

Overview

Dankey Kang is a photoshopped image that shows a Jeopardy! question about Sonic the Hedgehog paired with the answer 'Who is Dankey Kang?', a misspelling of Nintendo's Donkey Kong5. The picture looks like a real screencap from the game show but was fabricated by cartoonist Mike Rosenthal in January 20141. Despite being a hoax, it spread widely on Twitter and got mislabeled by many accounts as a genuine FAIL clip5.

The fake screencap inspired follow-up edits from Rosenthal in the same style1 and drew fan art from DeviantArt user Kevin Bolk, who drew a blue gorilla version of 'Dankey Kang' combining traits of Donkey Kong and Sonic6.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter

Creator

Mike Rosenthal

Date

2014

On January 8th, 2014, cartoonist Mike Rosenthal tweeted a doctored Jeopardy! screenshot pairing a Sonic the Hedgehog clue with the written answer 'Who is Dankey Kang?'1. The base image came from a real Final Jeopardy round uploaded to YouTube by user gemintech on May 31st, 2010, in which contestant Jen McFann had actually answered 'What is Berkeley?' to a clue about a US city sharing a name with a periodic table element5. According to the J! Archive, the Sonic the Hedgehog clue Rosenthal used has never actually appeared on the show2.

Within a week, Rosenthal's tweet pulled over 1,300 retweets and 1,000 favorites1. He followed up with another edit reading 'Who is Princess Zorldo?', a mangling of Princess Zelda from Nintendo's Legend of Zelda series1.

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How It Spread

Also on January 8th, Redditor lividd3ad posted Rosenthal's tweet to r/gamegrumps, where it collected more than 150 upvotes and 20 comments in the first week3. On January 9th, Rosenthal shared a screenshot showing '#DankeyKang' trending in the United States on Twitter1.

On January 11th, the image hit r/funny with over 26,000 views and 900 comments4. That same day, DeviantArt user Kevin Bolk uploaded illustrations of the blue gorilla version of Dankey Kang, essentially a Donkey Kong and Sonic mashup6. Blogger Tyler Oakley reposted the joke on his Tumblr the same day8.

On January 12th, NeoGAF user Vanillalite started a thread titled 'Who is Dankey Kang?' on the gaming forum7. By January 14th, an eBay listing appeared for a T-shirt printed with the phrase, showing how quickly the joke moved into merchandise9.

How to Use This Meme

The template is a Jeopardy! screencap edited so a real-looking clue is paired with an obviously wrong or deliberately misspelled written answer. People typically swap in nostalgia-tinged targets like classic video game characters and phrase the fake response in the show's 'Who is / What is' format for maximum deadpan effect. Rosenthal's own follow-up 'Who is Princess Zorldo?' is a common convention for the format1.