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Instead, in an appearance Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show,” the New York Jets quarterback, who’s known for pushing conspiracy theories, blamed the beef on misleading media reports on his initial comments.
Rodgers said that the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” host misunderstood the point he was making, but he also implied the comedian had it coming because of the many jokes he’s made about the NFL star’s spread of conspiracy theories, including COVID misinformation.
Rodgers also spent five minutes spreading more misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.
Last week on the sports talk show, Rodgers implied Kimmel wouldn’t be happy about the upcoming release of a court document that would name people associated with Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died in a New York City jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
“There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, that are really hoping that [Epstein list] doesn’t come out,” Rodgers said at the time, drawing scoffing and laughter from McAfee and co-host A.J. Hawk.
Since Epstein had been charged with trafficking underage women for sex, many people inferred that Rodgers was accusing Kimmel of being a pedophile.
In a scathing monologue Monday night, Kimmel explained why Rodgers’ comment was so dangerous.
“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,” Kimmel said. “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.”
On Tuesday’s show, Rodgers said that he only suggested Kimmel didn’t want the Epstein list revealed because it would expose corruption in Hollywood ― and that that was Kimmel’s real worry.
“I don’t think he’s the P-word,” Rodgers said, adding, “I wish him the best. Again, I don’t give a shit what he says about me as long as he understands what I actually said and that I’m not accusing him of being on the list.”
Although Rodgers conceded he understood “how serious an allegation of pedophilia would be, so for him to be upset about that, I get it,” he didn’t apologize for the remark.
Instead, he blamed the media for trying to get him “canceled” over his COVID claims.
“If you look at all the different people who’ve been censored, especially during COVID, the canceling that went on, the censorship… using the government to try and censor people, that happened. And if that doesn’t work, they go to name-calling,” he said.
Rodgers also addressed the scathing monologue Monday on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in which the late-night host expressed his anger over the original statement and lambasted the “hamster brain” QB by making fun of his community college education. (Rodgers played one year at Butte College in Northern California before going to the University of California, Berkeley.)
“I think it’s impressive that a man who went to Arizona State and has 10 joke writers can read it off the prompter,” Rodgers said.
You can see a clip of the segment here.