Aaron Rodgers Addresses the Jimmy Kimmel Situation on 'The Pat McAfee Show'

By Dustin Rowles | Social Media | January 9, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | Social Media | January 9, 2024 |

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers appeared today on the Pat McAfee show to address the controversy that surfaced last week amid comments regarding Jimmy Kimmell and the Jeffrey Epstein list. In the intervening week, Jimmy Kimmel has threatened to sue Aaron Rodgers for insinuating that he’s a pedophile, and last night, he excoriated Rodgers for seven minutes during his monologue for amplifying false information.

Did Aaron Rodgers apologize for insinuating that Jimmy Kimmel was on the Epstein list? He did not. Aaron Rodgers, instead, denied saying any such thing. Rodgers revisited the context of their feud, saying that it went back to the pandemic and Kimmel’s jokes about vaccine skeptics. Rodgers claimed that Kimmel dissed ivermectin, which Rodgers continues to insist is an effective treatment for COVID, and that Kimmel gave a platform to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the biggest “spreader of misinformation” on the planet.

Here, however, is where it might be important to rewatch the clip where Rodgers originally made the comment. Here’s Rodgers’ direct quote: “A lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, hope that [the Epstein list] doesn’t come out.”

Rodgers insists that he didn’t call Jimmy Kimmel a pedophile or insinuate any such thing. Rodgers, instead, claims that he meant that Kimmel didn’t want the list to come out because it would mean exposing corruption in Hollywood and that’s what Kimmel was worried about, nevermind that Rodgers’ actual comments set off rumors that Kimmel was on the Epstein list, including doctored documents that went viral on social media.

Watch the original clip again, and note how Rodgers (as well as Pat McAfee and AJ Hawk) react to Rodgers’ quote as though Rodgers had suggested that Kimmel was on the list, and how Rodgers also laughed in a way that suggested he meant exactly that. Rodgers insisted on the McAfee show that his quote was taken out of context, but it’s quite the opposite. Taken out of context, Rodgers’ statement might have suggested only that Kimmel was worried about the corruption that the Epstein list might expose. Within the context of the statement, however, Rodgers was clearly insinuating that Kimmel was on the Epstein list.

Beyond that, and expressing a lot of hurt feelings for the way that Kimmel has portrayed him as a conspiracy theorist or for making fun of Rodgers for being a community college student (which I will concede was uncool of Kimmel), Rodgers spent another half an hour or so revisiting his beliefs about COVID, the pandemic, and vaccines.

He did end the segment, however, by saying, “I’m glad that Jimmy is not on the list. I really am,” before adding, “It’s impressive that a guy who went to ASU and has 10 joke writers can read off a teleprompter.” He also implored others not to call Jimmy Kimmel a pedophile in his name.

I should also note that Pat McAfee, the Joe Rogan of ESPN, did very little to push back against Rodgers’ claims or misinterpretations. McAfee — who signed a five-year $85 million contract with ESPN and has been nothing but a headache since — mostly agreed with Rodgers and deferred to his expertise on COVID and Jimmy Kimmel, citing as his credentials his status as a future Hall of Fame quarterback who reads a lot. I like McAfee. He’s a good sports talk radio personality, but he should never have been given a platform this large to promote the conspiracy theories of Aaron Rodgers, who is paid $1 million to appear on his show once a week.

McAfee is well suited to ruminating on the firing of Mike Vrabel and his potential next destination. I’m not the shut-up and dribble type, but McAfee nevertheless belongs nowhere near COVID, politics, Epstein, or anything else that doesn’t have to do with sports or mullets. That he defers to Aaron Rodgers on COVID because Rodgers says words like “draconian” and “efficacy,” and therefore, “must be really smart” is all you need to know about McAfee’s knowledge of epidemiology.

Source: The Pat McAfee Show