Ken Jennings apologizes.
The Danger! champ, consultant producer and soon-to-be interim host, said in a series of messages on Wednesday that he had tweeted a few unarticulate and insensitive things over the years. He explained that many of the words ‘as jokes’ worked in his head, but he was ‘terrified to see them read on screen.’ He did not delete it because he felt it was “a lime”, but said he did not stand by everything he had said in the past.
“Sometimes I say stupid things in a dumb way and I want to apologize to people who are (rightly!) Offended,” Jennings said. ‘It was not my intention to hurt anyone, but it does not matter; I got upset, and I’m really sorry. ”
In his latest post on the subject, Jennings said: ‘If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that we should be kinder to each other. I look forward to going to 2021 with that in mind. ”
Hey, I just wanted the fact that over the years I definitely tweeted undoubted and insensitive things on Twitter. Sometimes they worked as jokes in my head and I was shocked to see them reading on the screen. 1 / x
– Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) 30 December 2020
Jennings’ remarks come less than two weeks before he will start as interim host from the start Danger! after the death of former host Alex Trebek in November.
The announcement that Jennings would introduce clues was no surprise Danger! fans, who know him well. He first took part in the program in 2003, when he appeared in 74 games in a row – the longest finish line in the history of the program. In 2011, he famously played and lost from the IBM computer Watson. He hit the beat Danger! champion James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter to win the show’s Gbest of all time tournament in primetime. Jennings became so associated with Danger! that he joined the program as a consultant producer and sometimes popped up to provide clues when the 37th season began in September.
This does not mean that everyone was happy with the announcement that Jennings will take on the role of Trebek, even if it is temporary. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown and others on Twitter opposed the choice, citing his tweets from the past. According to IndieWire, Brown pointed out one of September 22, 2014 in which Jennings said, “Nothing is sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair.” He addressed it four years later, when someone tweeted his words again. “I never hit an audience for this, but I personally apologized for angry / hurting people who reached out in person,” Jennings said. ‘It was a joke that was so inappropriate that it meant something completely different in my head [and] I regret the able reading of it. The tweet has since been removed.
I have never done a public spanking for this, but I have personally apologized for angry / hurting people who have personally reached out. it was a joke that was so inappropriate that it meant something completely different in my head, and I regret that I read the ability of it!
– Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) 20 April 2018
Reps for the show could not be reached for comment.
Danger! offers a look back at Trebek’s best deliveries this week. From January 4, viewers can see the last week of deliveries recorded by Trebek. The first of the episodes that Jennings presented will air on January 11th.
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