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'Jeopardy!': Alex Trebek's replacement Ken Jennings came under fire for 'insensitive joke' six years ago

'I just don’t like him even without the insensitive jokes. He couldn’t hold a candle to Alex IMO,' a fan commented

Famed quiz show 'Jeopardy!' lost its host Alex Trebek to cancer on November 8, 2020. He was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in 2019. Alex took up hosting duties in 1984 when 'Jeopardy!' first aired and it was only natural for loyal fans to feel the loss. The showrunners have decided to resume production on November 30 and even announced Ken Jennings as one of its first hosts in a series of guest hosts.

"We will honor Alex's legacy by continuing to produce the game he loved with smart contestants and challenging clues. By bringing in familiar guest hosts for the foreseeable future, our goal is to create a sense of community and continuity for our viewers," executive producer Mike Richards said in a statement.

On paper, Ken seems to be a befitting replacement (although Alex's contribution and loyalty to the show are unparalleled) but fans are not convinced. They have objected and commended one of his earlier tweets. "I can't think of anyone better to carry on Alex's legacy than someone who would tweet this," a user tweeted with a screenshot of a joke he made on his social handle that read: "Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair."

"I just don’t like him even without the insensitive jokes. He couldn’t hold a candle to Alex IMO," another commented, while a user pointed out: "If I remember correctly, he did eventually apologize for that tweet at some point. Could be wrong though, but I do remember seeing a tweeted apology. Strange he never deleted this tweet." "Wow, what a sh*tty thing to say. This is your host? Really?" a fan asked.

Jennings is yet to respond to the furor. His last tweet was on how honored he felt helping out 'Jeopardy!' continue with its intent to live up to Alex's legacy. In other news, 'Jeopardy!' will be airing 10 of Alex's best episodes in the weeks of 12/21 and 12/28 before his final week of episodes are made live in January. 

The tweet

It was posted on September 23, 2014, and even then there were some fierce reactions from keyboard warriors. One even asked if his account was hacked because the joke was that inappropriate. 

Roughly four years later, Ken apologized on the microblogging site saying that the "joke" read differently in his head. "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!" he posted. 

Who is Ken?

He is a famed game show contestant and has a net worth of $4 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. He is also an author and computer scientist. Ken is mostly known for his winning streak on 'Jeopardy!'. He set a record for the longest winning streak by acing 74 games in a row.