© 2026 ABC News

One of the tweets he shared reportedly included a joke about a disabled person. He apologized for the since-deleted tweet, which reportedly read, \"Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair,\" in 2018.

\"I never did a public flogging thing for this but I did apologize personally to angry/hurt people who reached out personally,\" he responded at the time. \"It was a joke so inept that it meant something very different in my head & I regret the ableist plain reading of it!\"

Other tweets of Jennings' 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.\"

Jennings, a 74-time champion of \"Jeopardy!\", was announced as one of the show's interim hosts last month. Production for the show resumed on Nov. 30.

\"Jeopardy!\" is distributed domestically by CBS Television Distribution and internationally by CBS Studios International. The syndicated game show airs on ABC-owned stations.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Culture/ken-jennings-apologizes-past-insensitive-tweets-screwed/story?id=74987621","legacySlug":"/culture/story/ken-jennings-apologizes-past-insensitive-tweets-screwed-74987621","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"17:29","publishDate":"12-31-2020","updatedTime":"17:36","updatedDate":"12-31-2020","socialImage":{"alt":"Ken Jennings is seen here on Nov. 20, 2020.","credit":"Ron Batzdorff/ABC via Getty Images","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/ken-jennings-file-gty-ml-201231_1609426311753_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"12/31/2020 17:29:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":74987621,"headline":"'Jeopardy!' champion apologizes for past tweets","mediaAssetTitle":"KEN JENNINGS APOLOGY TWEETS","description":"\"It wasn't my intention to hurt anyone, but that doesn't matter: I screwed up.\"","duration":"0:39","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/11/201124_gma_jeopardy_0717_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["17967146","74369001","74251822"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"November 8, 2020","headline":"Legendary 'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek dead at 80","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/legendary-jeopardy-host-alex-trebek-dies-17967146","id":17967146,"image":{"alt":"Legendary 'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek dead at 80","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/General/alex-trebek-jeopardy-dies-01-gty-llr-201108_1604856389187_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Eric Mccandless/ABC via Getty Images","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"November 24, 2020","headline":"'Jeopardy!' to resume filming with Ken Jennings as 1st guest host","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/ken-jennings-1st-jeopardy-guest-host-filming-resumes-74369001","id":74369001,"image":{"alt":"'Jeopardy!' to resume filming with Ken Jennings as 1st guest host","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/ken-jennings-ap-jt-201123_1606172341243_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"JEOPARDY! via AP, FILE","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"November 17, 2020","headline":"LeVar Burton thanks fans for petition calling for him to be next 'Jeopardy!' host","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/levar-burton-fans-petition-calling-jeopardy-host-74251822","id":74251822,"image":{"alt":"LeVar Burton thanks fans for petition calling for him to be next 'Jeopardy!' host","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/levar-burton-01-gty-iwb-201117_1605624809807_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Frazer Harrison/Getty Images, FILE","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"'Jeopardy!' champion apologizes for past tweets","description":"\"It wasn't my intention to hurt anyone, but that doesn't matter: I screwed up.\"","duration":"0:39","uploadDate":"12-31-2020","publication":"12-31-2020","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/11/201124_gma_jeopardy_0717_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/11/201124_gma_jeopardy_0717_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/ken-jennings-apologizes-past-insensitive-tweets-screwed-74987621"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132281378","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132283010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132273278","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132231169","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132206748","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132200241","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054443","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054798","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132033010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131912713","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131830583","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131834976","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554765","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554815","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131543053","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131432442","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131121474","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131247079","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131228784","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131178806","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:culture:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"culture","title":"'Jeopardy!' champion apologizes for past tweets","pubTime":"12:29","pubDate":"12-31-2020","modTime":"12:36","modDate":"12-31-2020","taxonomyTags":"none","id":74987621,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"'Jeopardy!' champion apologizes for past tweets","mediaAssetTitle":"KEN JENNINGS APOLOGY TWEETS","videoId":74987621,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/culture/story/ken-jennings-apologizes-past-insensitive-tweets-screwed-74987621"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/74987621","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/74987621","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};