The recent Elon Law graduate joined host Peter Sagal for the show’s “Bluff the Listener” game, guessing which unusual New York story was real.
Sometimes, torts class can steer you wrong.
Recent Elon Law graduate Dmitri McKinney L’25 appeared as a contestant on NPR’s popular news quiz show, “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!,” on March 21 where a legal hypothetical (or what sounded like one) led him astray.
Calling in from his hometown of Elon, McKinney joined host Peter Sagal for the program’s “Bluff the Listener” segment, where contestants try to identify the real news story among three humorous options presented by the show’s panelists.
During his introduction, McKinney shared that he had recently graduated from Elon Law and hopes to pursue public service or civil rights work, drawing applause from the audience.
When the panelists shared three unusual New York City stories, McKinney joked that one option — involving a tourist suing over a painfully spicy taco — sounded like something straight out of a first-year law class.
“I’m not saying this is the real one, but Paula (Poundstone)’s story sounded like a tort hypothetical that I know a lot of the 1Ls went through a couple of months ago,” he said.
Ironically, that lawsuit story turned out to be the real one.
“All of the answer choices were so entertaining, but I thought there was no way that the real answer would essentially be a giant torts foreseeability hypothetical!” McKinney said afterward. “I wound up picking Alonzo Bodden’s story because it was so kind-hearted.”
He appeared on the show after submitting an online form shortly after graduating from Elon Law in December.
“I have been a lifelong listener of NPR and of ‘Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!’ so I wanted being on the show to mark a special occasion,” McKinney said. “Someone from the show texted me last week asking if I still wanted to be on the show. It was an absolute delight.”
At Elon Law, McKinney was a Presidential Scholar, Leadership Fellow, editor-in-chief of We the People: Elon Law’s Constitutional Law Journal, president of the Innocence Organization, Law School Democrats and active on the Honor Council. He earned undergraduate degrees from North Carolina State University in chemistry and political science.