ABC/Ron Batzdorff(LOS ANGELES) — Ken Jennings is addressing some of his past tweets.
In a series of posts on Wednesday, the Jeopardy! champion, who will be the show’s first guest host following the death of Alex Trebek, apologized for pass comments he’s posted on the social media platform.
“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,” Jennings wrote. “Sometimes they worked as jokes in my head and I was dismayed to see how they read on screen.”
Jennings went on to explain why he hasn’t deleted some of his past tweets that were deemed offensive.
“In the past, I’d usually leave bad tweets up just so they could be dunked on. At least that way they could lead to smart replies and even advocacy. Deleting them felt like whitewashing a mistake,” he tweeted. “But I think that practice may have given the impression I stand by every failed joke I’ve ever posted here. Not at all!”
One of the tweets he shared reportedly included a joke about a disabled person. Jennings apologized for the since-deleted 2018 tweet, which reportedly read, “Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair.”
Other Jennings tweets that many have called into question include a since-deleted remark about Barron Trump, and a joke about fans who had seen the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens early, which many connected to several terminally ill fans who saw the film before its premiere date.
In his posts Wednesday, Jennings said he is “truly sorry.”
“Sometimes I said dumb things in a dumb way and I want to apologize to people who were (rightfully!) offended,” he tweeted. “It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone, but that doesn’t matter: I screwed up.”
By Hayley FitzPatrick
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