‘Jeopardy’ Star Ken Jennings Under Fire For Mocking Mom Who Lost Disabled Son
Jeopardy winner and author Ken Jennings took to Twitter to mock a mom who lost her disabled son when he was 24, reports Seattle radio station KTTH.
The game show contestant, who holds the record for the longest winning streak on Jeopardy, targeted the mom, who goes by Diane because she’s a Trump supporter.
Jennings lashed out after seeing a tweet from Diane in response to the news that ’80s sitcom Alf may be returning; the show brought back fond memories of her son, who loved the show.
“ALF was my son’s favorite character. He had so many ALF puppets. When he died we buried them together and had an ALF engraved into his head stone. Then my daughter got an ALF tatoo [sic] in honor of her brother. No matter what, ALF is special to our family,” she tweeted.
Jennings discovered that Diane is a Trump fan after reading “MAGA” (an acronym for Make America Great Again) in her bio.
He posted a condescending retweet in response.
This awful MAGA grandma is my favorite person on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/mQri5Pofet
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) August 5, 2018
Diane’s son, Timothy, was living in a group home when he fell down the stairs one day and died from intracranial bleeding. Diane said that he suffered from severe epilepsy and “life was tough on him,” according to KTTH.
She spoke to the radio station about her son and how much he loved Alf.
“We bought him so many puppets, and I still have the talking doll. It’s broken but I have it. And my mother got him the ALF doll which we buried him with.”
Diane also mentioned that she never expected an innocent tweet about her son to trigger the angry response from Jennings.
“Having just seen the tweet it just makes me feel violated. I don’t understand why he would choose me as a target. I don’t even know the man. But he doesn’t know anything about me other than the fact that Alf was a favorite character in my home for very sentimental reasons.”
However, this wasn’t the first time that Jennings distaste for the president has landed him in trouble on social media.
In January 2017, he posted a shocking tweet about how he wished Trump would start a war and that the country’s enemies would bomb the Midwest and South.
When Trump starts a war, I'm just hoping the other side understands the deal and only bombs, like, the Midwest and the South.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) December 29, 2016
In another tweet in November 2016, he refers to Trump as a fascist.
If you always worried the US was just one economic or terrorist crisis away from fascist takeover, good news! We didn't even need that.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) November 21, 2016
The Twitterverse didn’t take Jennings response to Diane’s tweet very lightly.
Twitter user @Neoavatara wrote, “You are a small, hateful human being, aren’t you? Kind of sad. I feel bad for you.”
Another user @douglasturtle responded, “Because there is nothing funnier than a mother mourning the loss of her son…?”
Diana spoke once more about the incident.
“They’re hateful people in this world, period, and social media gives them an opportunity to vent their hate. A lot of people become very brave behind a keyboard. I’m willing to bet that if I was face-to-face with that man, he wouldn’t have the nerve to make a disparaging remark like that.”
