Americans had a tremendous amount of affection for Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek who passed away from cancer not long ago.
He seemed for many like a member of our family after watching and enjoying him for so many years.
But beyond being a great and entertaining host, he was a lovely man, always reaching to others.
That’s why when Jeopardy announced that Ken Jennings would be standing in after Trebek died until they decided on a permanent host, many were troubled by that choice because Jennings is no Trebek.
Now while it might be difficult to find someone with Trebek’s deft and gracious way, Jennings is almost the opposite – crass and completely polarizing. He literally made a name for himself on Twitter for being as nasty as he could possibly be and extremely political.
Our friends over at Twitchy highlighted just a few of his insults over the years.
After Kathy Griffin held up President Trump’s bloody severed head, Jennings mocked his son Barron’s reaction: “Barron Trump saw a very long necktie on a heap of expired deli meat in a dumpster. He thought it was his dad & his little heart is breaking.” He made fun of “an awful MAGA grandma” whose son died at 24. He resorted to Islamophobia to slam Brett Kavanaugh: “when you know you have a 1982 calendar page labeled ‘Rape-adan: The Month When I Don’t Rape Anyone.'”
Not to mention insulting people in wheelchairs, “Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair.”
@Daylen I'm Democrat. Also, fuck you. When you win your 75th Jeopardy game, THEN you can start calling me a moron based on my religion.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) June 30, 2011
But now he’s apologizing, saying sorry, guys, it was just all bad jokes.
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
Um, he’s mentioning it now because he’d already been getting a backlash over it.
No, you’re doing this now because you want the permanent job. Can it be any more transparent? Not because you had some great spiritual awakening after being a social media jackalope for years.
What a lovely guy! Please, just say no, Jeopardy.
