Aaron Rodgers clarified the statements he made about TV show host Jimmy Kimmel last week on the latest episode of The Pat McAfee Show, saying that he is not calling the late-night comedian a pedophile.
On last week’s appearance with ESPN’s highly popular football personality, the topic of sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein’s rumored list of clients came up.
“A lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, are really hoping that doesn’t come out,” Rodgers said, adding he will be “popping some sort of bottle” if the list is released.
On Tuesday, Rodgers said he was referencing a conversation he had last year on McAfee’s show.
Photo by Brandon Sloter/Image Of Sport/Getty Images
“This goes back to COVID times,” Rodgers said.
According to Rodgers, who addressed his beef with Kimmel for nearly 30 minutes with McAfee, Kimmel made fun of Rodgers’ unvaccinated status after the vaccine was released, as well as unvaccinated people in general. Kimmel also attacked Ivermectin and other drugs that Rodgers believes help against COVID.
“He gave a platform to one of the biggest spreaders of misinformation during COVID times, [former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director] Dr. [Anthony] Fauci,” Rodgers said. “So in my opinion, he ripped me about the vax, and that turns out to be an L on many occasions, because the vax was not safe and effective like we were told it was in the beginning.”
On its website, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) writes that it “closely monitors the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. Almost 700 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the United States to date, and monitoring in multiple safety systems has established their favorable safety profile.”
The CDC adds that “the most common reactions following COVID-19 vaccines are pain, redness, and swelling where the shot was given, and headache, fever, muscle aches, chills, or fatigue. Anaphylaxis [severe allergic reaction to the vaccine] has been rarely observed following COVID-19 vaccines. These types of allergic reactions can rarely occur with any kind of vaccine or medical product.”
Rodgers said the reason he made last week’s comments about Kimmel was because the comedian made fun of him for believing that there would be an Epstein client list.
“I was referring to the fact that if there is a list, which again, this hasn’t come out yet, this was just a deposition, and there are names on it, then that would be the second time that a ‘soft-brain junior college student wacko, anti-vax, antisemite purveyor, spreader of misinformation, conspiracy theorist, MAGA,’ whatever things have been said by him and other people in the media have been right twice,” Rodgers said, referring to things that he says he has been called (he later claimed that he is not against vaccinations or a supporter of Donald Trump, although he did say he is fine with being called a conspiracy theorist).
“That is the truth, number one. Number two, I totally understand how serious an allegation of pedophilia would be. So for him to be upset about that, I get it. Did you watch the quote? Because that’s exactly what I said. Verbatim what I said on the show. I’m not stupid enough, even though you think I’m an idiot, and you made a lot of comments about my intelligence, but I’m not stupid enough to accuse you of that without exactly zero evidence, concrete evidence. That’s ridiculous.”
Rodgers did not apologize to Kimmel, who slammed him on Monday evening in his monologue. He did, however, call for people to stop accusing Kimmel of pedophilia.
“That sucks, and I condemn that 100 percent,” Rodgers said. “That’s ridiculous. Any type of name-calling is ridiculous. I’m not calling him one, and neither should you. So it’s not backing me up or making me feel good if you’re doing that. Let me make that crystal clear. I don’t take any f******* excitement or joy out of anybody doing that. Don’t do that in my name, don’t do that at all. Those are serious accusations meant for people who are on the list.”
Still, Rodgers seems to reserve plenty of animosity for Kimmel.
“I think it’s impressive that a man who went to Arizona State and has 10 joke writers can read off a prompter,” he said sarcastically. “So my education at juco [junior college] and my three semesters at Cal that I’m very proud of has worked out for me and I’m glad to see it has worked out for him as well. So I wish him the best. Again, I don’t give a s*** what he says about me. But as long as he understands what I actually said and that I’m not accusing him of being on a list, I’m all for moving forward.”
After Rodgers finished, McAfee called for the panel on his show and Rodgers to put their fists in like a huddle.
“Jimmy,” McAfee said holding up his fist. “Hey man. Pumped that you’re not on that list. Pumped about it. Because obviously we’ve all been Jimmy Kimmel fans since way back.”
Newsweek reached out to representatives for Kimmel and Rodgers by email for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.