3 times Ken Jennings has apologized on behalf of Jeopardy! and his actions

Ken Jennings is beloved for many reasons, and one of them is because the TV personality seems to know how to take accountability when it’s time whether it’s for him or Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings isn’t too big to admit he’s sorry, which he has done on multiple occasions on behalf of the long-running game show.

There have been times in the past when Jeopardy! came under fire for the clues and categories that they created, putting the trivia contest at the forefront of much backlash. As the face of the show, Ken, 51, often steps out to apologize for the sins of the game show.

Since he became the solo host of the contest in 2023, following former co-host Mayim Bialik being ousted, Ken has responded to much backlash with grace. Way more than once.

1 of 3

The A.I. clue backlash

Ken was recently apologetic about a clue from Jeopardy! episode that aired on October 24. Many online were in an uproar over that show because it included a clue that involved viral internet character John Pork.

John Pork is a fictional character with a pig’s head and a human body, whose appearance was the only apparent absurdity until he was killed by his fictional foe, Tim Cheese.

In the October 24 show, the questionable clue fell under the “Daddy, is there really a…” category and stated, “No: A.I. generated the TikTok image of this pig/human eventually killed by Tim Cheese”.

When the show’s contestants at the time, Cindy del Rosaria, Sondra Venable, and Dargan Ware seemed confused, Ken answered, “Who is John Pork?”

Shortly after, social media users began slamming Jeopardy! writers for inaccurately calling John Pork A.I.-generated when the character began appearing online in 2018, Ken issued an apology.

“When we played a clue recently on Jeopardy on John Pork, I remarked that I didn’t understand a word of it,” Ken said in a video shared on social media. “Well, I’ve had a chance to learn quite a bit about the late Mr. Pork, including the fact that some viewers took exception with our description of him as ‘AI-generated.'”

 (
Image:
Getty Images for Edge at Hudson)

2 of 3

Sexist joke against woman contestant

In a Jeopardy! The episode that aired on October 28, 2024, found Ken facing a side-eye from viewers after he delivered a sexist clue.

The clue, which the former record-breaking Jeopardy! champion recited to be, “Men seldom make passes at…” came from the “Complete the Rhyming Phrase” category and had the answer, “Girls who wear glasses.”

Immediately, the Jeopardy! The moderator addressed the elephant in the room that had arrived since one of the contestants there that day, Heather Ryan, wore glasses. Ken explained the clue was “a little problematic” before adding, “Sorry, Heather.”

 (
Image:
ABC via Getty Images)

3 of 3

Ken’s 2020 X posts (tweets)

There were some moments, on and off-air, that Ken wasn’t proud of, including when he posted insensitive tweets on now-X.

A few of his offensive tweets include, “Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair,” which he posted in 2014, leading many to believe he was engaging in ableism. As a result, many wheelchair users on Twitter began posting selfies and using hashtags such as #DisabledAndCute and #HotPersonInAWheelchair after Ken’s old tweets resurfaced in 2020.

On December 30, 2020, Ken took to X to acknowledge the hurtful things he wrote on the social media platform, doing so apologetically.

“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. Sometimes they worked as jokes in my head, and I was dismayed to see how they read on screen,” he wrote in his first tweet.

He continued in another: “But I think that practice may have given the impression I stand by every failed joke I’ve ever posted here. Not at all!”

After that, he wrote: “If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we should be kinder to one another. I look forward to heading into 2021 with that in mind.”