Ken Jennings is apologizing.
The Jeopardy! champ, consulting producer and soon-to-be interim host said in a series of messages Wednesday he’s tweeted “some unartful and insensitive things” over the years. He explained that many of the words “worked as jokes” in his head, but he was “dismayed to see how they read on screen.” He didn’t delete them because he felt like that would be “whitewashing a mistake,” but he said that he didn’t stand by everything he’d said in the past.
“Sometimes I said dumb things in a dumb way and I want to apologize to people who were (rightfully!) offended,” Jennings said. “It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone, but that doesn’t matter; I screwed up, and I’m truly sorry.”
In his final post on the subject, Jennings said, “If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we should be kinder to one another. I look forward to heading into 2021 with that in mind.”
Hey, I just wanted to own up to the fact that over the years on Twitter, I've definitely tweeted some unartful and insensitive things. Sometimes they worked as jokes in my head and I was dismayed to see how they read on screen. 1/x
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) December 30, 2020
Jennings’s comments come less than two weeks before he’ll begin his stint as the interim host of Jeopardy! following the death of former host Alex Trebek in November.
The announcement Jennings would be introducing clues was no surprise to Jeopardy! fans, who know him well. He first competed on the show in 2003, when he appeared on 74 games in a row — the longest winning streak in the show’s history. In 2011, he famously played and lost to IBM computer Watson. He beat fellow Jeopardy! champs James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter to win the show’s Greatest of All Time tournament in primetime. Jennings has become so associated with Jeopardy! that he joined the show as a consulting producer and occasionally popped up to deliver clues when the 37th season debuted in September.
That doesn’t mean everyone was happy with the announcement Jennings would be stepping into Trebek’s role, even if temporarily. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown and others on Twitter opposed the choice, citing his past tweets. According to IndieWire, Brown pointed out one from Sept. 22, 2014 in which Jennings said, “Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair.” He addressed it four years later, when someone retweeted his words. “I never did a public flogging for this but I did apologize personally to angry/hurt people who reached out personally,” Jennings said. “It was a joke so inept that it meant something very different in my head [and] I regret the ableist plain reading of it.” The tweet has since been deleted.
I never did a public flogging thing for this but I did apologize personally to angry/hurt people who reached out personally. it was a joke so inept that it meant something very different in my head & I regret the ableist plain reading of it!
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) April 20, 2018
Reps for the show could not be reached for comment.
Jeopardy! is airing a retrospective of Trebek’s best episodes through this week. Beginning Jan. 4, viewers can see the final week of episodes that Trebek taped. The first of the episodes that Jennings hosted is set to air Jan. 11.
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