In a string of tweets on Wednesday, December 30, the Jeopardy! consulting producer, 46, admitted that he tweeted “some unartful and insensitive things” in the past.

Jennings claimed that many of the tweets “worked as jokes” in his mind, but said he was “dismayed to see how they read on screen.” He didn’t delete them, though, because he thought that would be “whitewashing a mistake.”

He wrote, “Sometimes I said dumb things in a dumb way and I want to apologize to people who were (rightfully!) offended. It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone, but that doesn’t matter; I screwed up, and I’m truly sorry.”

In closing, the future game show host continued: “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.”

The Washington native’s past tweets resurfaced following news that he would be temporarily filling in as host after Alex Trebek‘s November death. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown and others on Twitter cited the posts, including one from 2014 that read, “Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair.”

Jennings addressed that specific tweet in a 2018 apology, writing: “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!”

The tweet has since been deleted.

Trebek’s final episodes as Jeopardy! host will begin airing Monday, January 4. The show’s new, interim host will take over on January 11.

This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Caitlyn Hitt