Aaron Rodgers responds to Jimmy Kimmel with his side of the controversy
Aaron Rodgers was back on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday to respond to the drama surrounding himself and Jimmy Kimmel.
It all began last week on the aforementioned show, when Rodgers insinuated Kimmel could be connected to high-profile criminal Jeffrey Epstein. The host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! responded on X (formerly known as Twitter), before partaking in a lengthy rant during his monologue, disparaging Rodgers and his prior comments.
His monologue can be found here. Of course, Rodgers — never shying away from a battle — delivered his rebuttal, as McAfee and Rodgers’ former teammate A.J. Hawk hung on every word.
Aaron Rodgers on history with Jimmy Kimmel: ‘You went after me’
“Jokes aside, I’d really like to get into this, and then let’s just move on,” Rodgers proclaimed. “So the history of this … whatever this is, between Jimmy and I, this goes back to COVID times. In COVID times, he mentioned on his show, jokes about my immunization … and the fact that, my own research, he didn’t just stop there though. He made a lot of other comments about unvaccinated people. Mentioning that they don’t deserve treatment. If they’re at a hospital, they shouldn’t be given a hospital bed. … He gave a platform to one of the biggest spreaders of misinformation during the COVID times, Dr. Fauci.
“So in my opinion, he ripped me about the vax, and that turns out to be an L on many occasions. The vax was not safe and effective, like we were told it was in the beginning. There are a lot of injuries we’ve seen related to the vaccine. So in my opinion, you went after me. That’s fine. You’re a comedian. Go for it. Not offended. But that was an L.”
After giving a history lesson on his feud with Kimmel, harkening back to the time where Rodgers spoke on COVID, he got into the comments he made last Tuesday, linking Kimmel to Epstein, and the comedian’s rebuttal on X.
“Somehow, the Epstein client list comes up, and I said, ‘It’s interesting,’ and even still, there hasn’t been a list that’s been released,” the New York Jets star said. “There’s been one person’s deposition from a 2015 case. But we said there’s an excitement to expose corruption. When I joked the other day about popping a bottle, there’s an excitement for when corruption anywhere gets exposed, and people anywhere who are accused of these heinous crimes get exposed, that will be nice, that we can get this all out in the open.
“So I made this comment on the show. And then unprompted, he comes out and says that I’m an, ‘overly concussed wacko,’ in my opinion, it seemed like, because I believed that there was a list, and that there were names on that.”
Rodgers: ‘I’m not stupid enough’ to accuse Kimmel ‘without absolutely zero concrete evidence’
Then, Rodgers moved into Kimmel’s monologue, first retelling his quote from last Tuesday before responding thoroughly.
“I was referring to the fact that, if there’s a list, which again, this hasn’t come out yet, this is just the deposition, and there are names on it, then that would be the second times that a, ‘soft-brained, junior college student, wacko, anti-vax, anti-semite, purveyor — spreader of misinformation, conspiracy theorist, MAGA,’ whatever other things have been said by him and other people in the media, would be right twice,” Rodgers added. “Now let me just say that, that’s the truth No. 1. No. 2, I truly 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 absolutely zero concrete evidence. That’s ridiculous. So I’m glad, and I think we can agree on something, is that one, those crimes are heinous, and two, I’m glad you’re not on the list. Because those who are on the list, and this one I think we can agree on, at minimum, there should be an inquiry into their involvement, especially if they went to the island. At maximum, there should be an investigation into it. So I hope that you’ll give the same type of energy to these heinous crimes when they do come out, and the names do come out, and there is an inquiry into it, that you gave to other subjects that I actually mentioned, that you spent a lot of time working on. So I’d like to put this to bed, to move forward.”
Alas, the feud between Aaron Rodgers and Jimmy Kimmel takes another turn. We’ll see if Rodgers’ response satisfies the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host, or if this isn’t the last we’ve heard between these two.