NPR host's play cut from Texas test

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- A playwright seems to have inadvertently sabotaged a deal to have one of his works used on a Texas school exam by going public with a dispute about language.

Peter Sagal, who hosts the National Public Radio news quiz "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me,' said no one told him he had to keep quiet about plans for his play "Game Theory" to become test material, the Fort Worth Star-Telegraph reported. He was told after he blogged about the argument over the phrase "for God's sake" that the play is no longer "secure" test material.

Sagal said he had decided to go ahead and let Pearson Education, the testing company, change the phrase to "for Pete's sake." He planned to donate the $2,000 he would have received for licensing his play to the Texas Freedom Network, which challenges many of the decisions made by the Texas Education Agency.

The agency most recently approved a more conservative history curriculum. At one point, Thomas Jefferson was eliminated from courses on U.S. history, although he was subsequently restored.