Jeopardy! guest host Ken Jennings slammed over resurfaced wheelchair tweet
Ken Jennings,the Jeopardy! record-holder who will be guest hosting the show following the death of Alex Trebek, has faced outrage over resurfaced tweet
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Ken Jennings has faced a huge backlash over a resurfaced tweet about wheelchair users.
The 46-year-old is the record holder on Jeopardy! and is stepping in to the host the show that he won 74 times, after the death of long-term host Alex Trebek.
His appointment has sparked outrage after a tweet he posted in 2014 about "hot" people in wheelchairs resurfaced.
The soon-to-be game show host wrote in the insensitive tweet: "Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair."
It would appear that Ken deleted the tweet in 2018 but the message has come back to haunt him again as it was re-posted by angry fans of the show who thought his appointment was not well advised.
Ken said that he apologised "personally" to those that had reached out at him in 2018, saying that it was an "inept" joke.
He tweeted at the time: "I never did a public flogging thing for this but I did apologise personally to angry/hurt people who reached out personally."
Ken continued: "it was a joke so inept that it meant something very different in my head & I regret the ableist plain reading of it!"
With the resurfacing of the tweet, Ken is once again feeling the heat from angry Twitter users who were upset with his original sentiments.
One person raged: "As a hot person in a wheelchair Ken Jennings can go to hell."
Another added: "Nothing sadder than an unapologetic ableist hosting Jeopardy!"
A third hit out at Ken, tweeting: "I'm sitting in a wheelchair in this photo, though it's not visible (I'm wearing the gloves I usually wear when I wheel myself around because it's easier on my hands)! I think I'm cute! I'd like to see @KenJennings say there's nothing sadder than seeing this photo to my face!!"
US actress Yvette Nicole Brown, who starred as Shirley Bennett on the NBC comedy series Community, weighed in with her thoughts on the controversy by posting the news that Ken was hosting.
She added to the tweet: "Nope."
When challenged as to why she was so upset about him being given the role, Yvette replied: "Peep his old tweets and get back at me."
Ken was revealed as the the first of a series of guest hosts just a few days ago.
An official tweet shared the news: "We will resume production on 11/30 with a series of interim guest hosts from the Jeopardy! family – starting with Ken Jennings. Additional guest hosts to be announced."
Ken claimed the 'Greatest Of All Time' title in a competition on the show last year and he replaces Alex Trebek, who died aged 80 after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer earlier this month.
MirrorCeleb