Danger! Alex Trebek’s acting host and alleged heir, Ken Jennings, did not have the best week online. Just before New Year’s Eve, the champion apologized for the old and insensitive tweets, including a six-year-old post in which he wrote: “Nothing is sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair.” And on Sunday, Jennings tried to defend his podcast host, John Roderick – whose Twitter nickname is now “Bean Dad,” thanks to a bizarre and controversial anecdote that some have labeled child abuse, and whose own bad tweets have also emerged.
Over the weekend, Roderick shared a long anecdote in which he said his nine-year-old daughter told him he was hungry, and he responded by telling him to make beans – only to react in horror when he realized he never taught her how to use a can opener. Instead of helping his son prepare the meal, he made her struggle alone with the device for six hours in what he called “Teaching Moment” – a process he noticed involved “tears” and his daughter “faints[ing] in a frustrated pile. ”
Like The Hollywood Reporter notes, some Twitter users dubbed the ordeal “child abuse”. Roderick defended himself, writing: “Somehow, my story about teaching my daughter how to use a can opener and overcome her frustration ended up in a version of Twitter where I am being accused of child abuse. It’s surprising. My son is fine, everyone. ”He added:“ The best part of being evaluated by these concerned parent trolls is that they continue to insist on how to deprive my child of baked beans for SIX HOURS is child abuse. Six hours is the time interval between meals. Lunch at noon, dinner at six. They are literally saying CHILD ABUSE. ”He has already deleted his account.
But the controversy also caused some social media to bring in other more worrying posts from Roderick – posting images of it, THR notes included anti-Semitic messages and defenses against the use of racist and homophobic slanders.
Jennings, co-host of the podcast Bus with Roderick, initially joked about the fiasco of writer and musician “Bean Dad”, tweeting, “Extremely jealous and angry because my podcast co-host is going to be a dictionary entry and I never will.”
“If it reassures someone”, he added, “I personally know that John is (a) a loving and caring father who (b) tells intense stories to the effect on his own irascibility at about ten podcasts a week. This site is so stupid. “
When faced with Roderick’s “weird anti-Semitic shit”, Jennings answered, “If we are looking for words in old tweets now, it is very easy to find out what he really thinks about anti-Semitism. In our program, he is always pro-Israel! ”He later added that “there is no axis where any anti-Semitic screenshot represents any real opinion I have ever heard of him”.
But many on social media weren’t happy at all – especially considering that Jennings apologized for her own misleading posts on a topic that some considered sincere and others marked a public relations stunt as he watched Trebek’s former host job.
On Wednesday Jennings I wrote, “Hey, I just wanted to admit the fact that over the years on Twitter, I definitely tweeted some uninspiring and insensitive things. Sometimes they acted like jokes in my head and I was dismayed to see how they read on the screen. “
He continuous: “In the past, I usually left bad tweets in the air just so they could be ignored. At least that way, they could lead to smart responses and even advocacy. Deleting them seemed like a bleaching error. “
“But I think this practice may have given the impression that I keep all the failed jokes that I have posted here. Not at all! “He added. (He apologized, for example, for the wheelchair tweet in 2018.) “Sometimes I said stupid things in an idiotic way and I want to apologize to people who were (rightly!) Offended, ”wrote Jennings. “It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone, but it doesn’t matter: I blew it and I’m really sorry.”
“If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we should be kinder to each other,” Jennings concluded. “I’m looking forward to entering 2021 with that in mind.”
A Sony representative and Danger! did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.