( CNN ) -- It was just a joke , said Pat Sajak -- but a lot of Twitter followers were n't laughing . On Monday night , the `` Wheel of Fortune '' host -- a conservative who 's occasionally used his Twitter account to tweak liberals -- tweeted , `` I now believe global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists knowingly misleading for their own ends . Good night . '' The reaction from the Twitterverse was swift and blunt . Some tried reason . Michael E. Mann , a climate scientist at Penn State , tweeted that climate change could have huge repercussions . `` Hey @ PatSajak , this aint the Wheel of Fortune . If we lose this game , it is n't just one person 's misfortune . All humanity pays the price , '' he posted . Others fought back with ridicule . `` On one hand 97 % of scientists on the other hand a guy that got his job because chuck woolery came across as too intellectual , '' posted mrjolly , referencing Sajak 's `` Wheel '' predecessor . `` Say what you will about Pat Sajak but that guy works 35 days a year , '' tweeted Pat Thornton . Sajak continued poking . `` Taking next few weeks off . Computer models have already determined winners , '' Sajak posted Tuesday morning . He soon acknowledged he was just trying to get a rise out of people . `` Sometimes it 's fun to poke a stick in a hornets ' nest just to hear the buzzing , '' he tweeted Tuesday afternoon . In a statement , Sajak said he was just being snarky . `` Of course I was joking . Just mocking the name-calling that is directed at global warming skeptics within and without the scientific community , '' he said in a statement from his representative . As Vice magazine noted , Sajak has a habit of mocking climate change . He 's tweeted about Al Gore , fund-raising and his nephew being a `` Tooth Fairy denier . '' On Wednesday , Sajak puckishly observed that he 'd hit a hot button . `` Later today I 'll be tweeting my views on the subjects of nuclear proliferation and free-range chicken , '' he tweeted . Pat Sajak 's hosted 'Wheel of Fortune ' drunk .
Pat Sajak provokes firestorm with tweet . `` I now believe global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists , '' he posted . Some react with reason , others with ridicule . Sajak says he was just joking .