ESPN podcaster Pat McAfee revealed that New York quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ weekly guest appearance on his show is over for the remainder of the NFL season.
During the Wednesday episode of “The Pat McAfee Show,” the titular said Rodgers was “done” and he was thrilled about it.
“There could be a lot of people that are happy with that,” he remarked. “Myself included, to be honest with you.”
“The way it ended, it got real loud, real loud,” he explained. “I’m happy that is not going to be my mentions going forward, which is great news.”
Pat McAfee says Aaron Rodgers is done appearing on the show for the rest of the NFL season.
Admits people behind the scenes at ESPN have major problems with him, but he's continuing to push forward.
Says he will never give up control of his show. pic.twitter.com/1MKFV5K4JS
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) January 10, 2024
Rodgers got too “loud” when he implied that late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel would appear on the “Epstein list” of names that had previously been redacted in victim Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against the convicted pedophile.
Kimmel responded with an angry tweet that accused the quarterback of putting his “family in danger” with his careless remarks, and a threat to sue.
The comedian addressed Rodger’s claim again during the opening monologue of his show on Monday.
“I don’t know Jeffrey Epstein,” he said seriously. “I’ve never met Jeffrey Epstein. I was not on a list. I was not on a plane, or an island, or anything ever.”
“A lot of delusional people honestly believe I am meeting up with Tom Hanks and Oprah at Shakey’s once a week to eat pizza and drink the blood of children,” he went on.
“I know this because I hear from these people often. My wife hears from them, my kids hear from them, my poor mailman hears from these people, and now we’re hearing from lots more of them thanks to Aaron Rodgers.”
NEW: Hollywood liberal Jimmy Kimmel makes fun of Aaron Rodgers for going to community college before playing at Cal.
Ironically, Kimmel went to Arizona State University, a school that currently has a ~90% acceptance rate.
“A guy who went to community college, then got into Cal… pic.twitter.com/PJhm0SKIs5
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 9, 2024
Kimmel suggested that there were only two reasons the former Green Bay Packer would make the accusation.
“Either he actually believes my name was gonna be on Epstein’s list, which is insane,” he continued.
“Or the more likely scenario is he doesn’t actually know and he just said it because he’s mad at me for making fun of his top knot and his lies about being vaccinated.”
Kimmel said he thinks Rodgers was upset with a joke he previously made about the athlete’s belief that UFO sightings were appearing in the media to distract the public from the Epstein list.
“He saw that and maybe to retaliate he decided to insinuate that I am a pedophile,” the late night host stated.
“This is how these nuts do it now. You don’t like Trump? You’re a pedophile. It’s their go-to move and it shows you how much they actually care about pedophilia.”
Kimmel acknowledged that Rodgers has “the right to express any opinion he wants to,” but “saying someone is a pedophile is not an opinion.”
The comedian said that when he gets something wrong on “rare occasions,” he apologizes and encouraged the NFL star to do the same, but “bet” that he wouldn’t.
Kimmel was certainly right, because Rodgers outright denied ever making the assertion.
“I totally understand how serious an allegation of pedophilia would be,” Rodgers said on McAfee’s Tuesday show. “So for him to be upset about that, I get it.”
"I'm not stupid enough to accuse you of that with absolutely zero concrete evidence."
Aaron Rodgers gives his side of the controversy with Jimmy Kimmel pic.twitter.com/wSUGyqTLhW
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 9, 2024
“I’m not stupid enough, even though you think I’m an idiot and you’ve made a lot of comments about my intelligence, but I’m not stupid enough to accuse you of that with absolutely zero concrete evidence,” he noted. “That’s ridiculous.”
Later in the interview, Rodgers said that the media would “try and cancel” him over the remarks.
“And it’s not just me — it’s nowhere near just me. If you look at all the different people who’ve been censored from the internet — especially during COVID,” he asserted.
“The canceling that went on, the censorship, using the government to try and censor people that happened.”
“This is the game plan they use,” Rodgers concluded. “Incorrect, but that’s the environment we’re in.”
He was clearly correct, as he was cancelled from McAfee’s show for the remainder of the NFL season the following day.
“Aaron Rodgers is a Hall of Famer,” McAfee said diplomatically during the podcast. “He’s a four-time MVP. He’s a massive piece of the NFL story whenever you go back and tell it. He will be a huge part of it.”
“We are very lucky to get a chance to chat with him and learn from him,” he added. “Some of his thoughts and opinions do piss off a lot of people.
“I’m pumped that that is no longer every single Wednesday of my life, which it has been for the last few weeks.”