Acting ‘Jeopardy’ host Ken Jennings faces backlash for old tweets

Ken Jennings is under fire for a past tweet mocking the disabled, just two days after news of his temporary replacement of Alex Trebek was announced. Peril!. The comment in question is from 2014 in which Jennings wrote: “Nothing is sadder than a sexy person in a wheelchair.”

Sony Pictures Television revealed on Monday that Jennings, a fan-favorite who holds the record for the show’s longest winning streak, will launch a series of acting guest hosts from the Peril! the family when production resumes on November 30. Trebek died earlier this month from pancreatic cancer.

After the announcement, actress Yvette Nicole Brown simply commented, “No.” When asked why, she pointed them to Jennings’ old tweet.

Jennings previously apologized for the message. “I never did a flogging in public for this, but I have personally apologized to the angry / hurt people who contacted personally,” he tweeted in 2018. “It was such an inane joke that it meant something very different in my head and I regret the mere read capable of it!

This isn’t the only tweet Jennings is receiving criticism for. In 2015, he made a callous comment when Star wars fan, Daniel Fleetwood, died of cancer after being screened Star Wars: The Force Awakens early. Jennings wrote: “It can’t be a good sign that all the fans who have seen the new Star wars the film died soon after.

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Jennings did not address the new reaction.

It’s been a great week for the Peril! The best ever winner. On Tuesday, Jennings received a Grammy nomination in the Best Spoken Word Album category for her co-narration of the audio version of Trebek’s July book, The answer is …: Reflections on my life. The two have remained close since Jennings first appeared on the game show in 2004.

Yahoo Entertainment reached out to Sony Pictures Entertainment for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.

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