Aaron Rodgers claims Jimmy Kimmel-Jeffrey Epstein comments were taken out of context
Aaron Rodgers wasn’t implying documents regarding Jeffrey Epstein would be damaging or incriminating for Jimmy Kimmel when he said on the Pat McAfee Show weeks ago that many people “including Jimmy Kimmel” don’t want such documents released. At least that is what happened according to Aaron Rodgers.
In an interview with Joe Rogan, Rodgers claimed that Kimmel (and millions of others, apparently) took him out of context. Rodgers goes on to recount the events with Rogan, omitting, altering and obscuring key details in the process.
“I had said on the McAfee Show before, they had talked about — you know forever they talked about releasing the Epstein list or whatever. And I had said that on the show. And he had gone on his show and called me a tin foil hat-wearing doofus who is talking about – I thought he said that I’m an idiot for even thinking there’s a list that’s out there,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers’ full quote with respect to Kimmel and Epstein came after one of the shows regular hosts, A.J. Hawk, asked the quarterback about the impending release of documents regarding Epstein. And Rodgers said the following with regard to Kimmel.
“That’s supposed to be coming out soon. There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, who are really hoping that doesn’t come out,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers, in the original interview that sparked the ire, later said he would be “popping some bottles” if the list came out, a remark that on its own can be viewed as being about a victory for transparency and accountability regarding the Epstein case. But taken together, even with the full context, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that Rodgers was hinting at a link between Epstein and Kimmel in the original interview.
Rodgers, talking with Rogan more than a month later, tried to argue his implication was Kimmel didn’t want the list to come out for reasons other than a direct link. His best pass at specifying what those reasons are boiled down to Kimmel working at a large, powerful media company, thus causing him to rub elbows with people more directly impacted, be it other celebrities or executives.
“Nobody watched the f****** clip. That’s why. They just saw a headline and ‘Oh it’s the anti-vax guy again, let’s hammer him,’” Rodgers said with Rogan.
In the immediate aftermath of the original remark, after most took Rodgers’ comments to imply that Kimmel would be directly linked to Epstein in some release of documents, Kimmel responded in force. The talk show host cited the safety of his family being in jeopardy after what Rodgers said, and threatened to sue the quarterback.
This was followed by Kimmel’s monologue going after him, in which he called the New York Jets quarterback a “tin foil hatter.”
And Rodgers may have revealed what this is all really about when responding to Kimmel’s monologue, as he revealed he was irked that Kimmel had gone after him in the past for Rodgers’ own Covid vaccine hesitance.
It’s a point that Rodgers reiterated in his interview with Rogan, evidently still irked that Kimmel has been an unabashed supporter of the Covid vaccine and used Rodgers as a contrast. And his talking points about the issue now are similar to what he said again on McAfee a week after his original comments.
“So I’d like to put this to bed, to move forward,” Rodgers said on Jan. 9.