The message was recorded earlier this year as part of the Thanksgiving Day episode. – Jeopardy! tweeted the clip Thursday morning, before the scheduled broadcast.
The beloved television presenter passed away on November 8, less than two years after announcing that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
In the posthumous message, Trebek acknowledged the difficulties the nation had never seen on this Thanksgiving.
“You know, despite what America and the rest of the world are experiencing right now, there are many reasons to be grateful,” Trebek said in the video.
“More and more people are offering a helping hand to please their neighbors,” he continued, “and that’s a good thing.”
A spokesperson for the show did not immediately answer questions about when the episode was screened.
The message of the late host comes at a time when Americans are significantly different from Thanksgiving days in recent years: a record number of coronavirus infections and nearly a quarter of a million people have died from the virus. Nationwide, families were urged not to gather for the holiday in hopes of stopping the spread.
“Keep the faith,” Trebek urged. “We’re going to go through all this and be a better society because of that.”
