Ken Jennings defends Twitter’s bastard bastard, who addresses old tweets as “Jeopardy!” Chance hosting is collapsing

Danger! interim host and Alex Trebek’s presumed heir, Ken Jennings, did not have the best week online. Just before New Year’s Eve, the champion apologized for old, unfeeling tweets – including a six-year post that read: “Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair”. And on Sunday, Jennings tried to defend her podcast host, John Roderick – whose nickname on Twitter is now “Bean Dad” due to a bizarre and controversial anecdote that some have labeled child and child abuse. whose own bad tweets came up.

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 her to make beans in the oven – only to react in horror when he realized that he had never taught her how to use a can opener. Instead of helping his child prepare the meal, he made her fight the device alone for six hours, in what he called “Teaching Moment” – a process he noted involving “tears.” , and his daughter “collapses”[ing] in a frustrated heap. ”

As The Hollywood Reporter notes, some Twitter users have called the ordeal “child abuse.” Roderick defended himself, writing: “In a way, my story about teaching my daughter how to find out how to use a can opener and overcome her frustration came across a twitter version in which I am accused of child abuse. It is amazing. My baby is fine everyone. He added: “The best part about being treated by these parental care trolls is that they continue to show me how depriving my child of baked beans for SIX HOURS is child abuse. Six hours is the duration between meals. Lunch at noon, dinner at six. They literally say CHILD ABUSE. “He has since deleted his account.

But the controversy has also led some on social media to see other more relevant posts from Roderick – posting screenshots of them, such as THR notes, included anti-Semitic messages and advocacy for the use of racist and homophobic insults.

Jennings, who hosts the podcast omnibus with Roderick, he initially joked about the musician-writer’s “Bean Dad” fiasco, tweeting, “Extremely jealous and annoyed that the co-host of my podcast will be a dictionary entry and I will never do it.”

“If that reassures someone,” he said added, “I personally know John as (a) a loving and caring father who (b) tells augmented stories about his own irascibility, like ten podcasts a week. This site is so stupid. “

When confronted by Roderick’s “strange anti-Semitic shit,” Jennings he replied“If we look for words in old tweets now, it’s pretty easy to find out what he thinks about anti-Semitism. In our show, he is always pro-Israel! “He later added that “there is no axis in which any anti-Semitic screenshot represents any real opinion I have ever heard from him.”