ESPN apologizes for Aaron Rodgers' comments about Jimmy Kimmel on 'The Pat McAfee Show'
ESPN has issued an apology in light of Aaron Rodgers’ comments on The Pat McAfee Show earlier this week. The New York Jets quarterback inaccurately claimed Jimmy Kimmel might be one of the names included in the documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
On Tuesday, Rodgers alleged Kimmel and “a lot of people” were “really hoping” the list didn’t come out. Kimmel’s name was not part of the document release this week, and he responded by threatening legal action as a result of the comments.
Friday afternoon, ESPN’s Mike Foss issued an apology for the remarks.
“Aaron made a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel. It should never have happened. We all realized that in the moment,” Foss said, via Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy.
Kimmel reposted Rodgers’ comments and said he never had any connection to Epstein, the convicted sex offender who killed himself in jail in 2019.
“Dear Aasshole: for the record, I’ve not met, flown with, visited, or had any contact whatsoever with Epstein, nor will you find my name on any ‘list’ other than the clearly-phony nonsense that soft-brained wackos like yourself can’t seem to distinguish from reality,” Kimmel posted. “Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court.”
The other part of the conversation is the fact that McAfee and Kimmel are both Disney employees — McAfee at ESPN and Kimmel at ABC. It adds more layers to the controversy, and FOS reported the “ball’s now squarely in Kimmel’s court” as the situation unfolds.
Pat McAfee responded to Jimmy Kimmel after Aaron Rodgers’ comments
A day after Rodgers’ initial comments, McAfee responded with a lengthy monologue on his show, drawing comparisons to the highly publicized legal situation with Brett Favre last year.
“Whenever you’re free-wheeling and dealing in here, and you’re having conversations, they can certainly lead to some places that causes international news and some things like that, and whenever there’s accusations made about people that can lead to lawsuits — I’ve been in one before, with Brett Favre,” McAfee said. “Now, how’d that case end? Well, it ended with me having to read a letter basically stating that I know nothing that anybody else doesn’t know publicly already. That I’m not in the know for that whole thing. That kind of then disappeared, but that was a big thing there.
“How did that come? Well we just started making jokes about stuff. We just started talking s— about stuff. In our show, I think that’s a good part of what we do, is we’re able to kind of just roll with the punches. We’re able to have a good time. We’re all rather invested and studied in what’s happening around the sports world at all times … so we are very much in that world, so everybody that comes on this stage has to be able to keep up with where we’re headed.”