Aaron Rodgers is out as a guest on ESPN's "Pat McAfee Show" for the rest of the NFL season after making controversial comments about ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
"So 'Aaron Rodgers Tuesday,' season four, is done," McAfee told his audience on Wednesday. "There could be a lot of people that are happy with that. Myself included, to be honest with you. The way it ended, it got real loud."
Citing someone familiar with the matter, CNN reported that the decision to cut Rodgers from his regular Tuesday show appearances was because of his recent behavior — not the end of the regular NFL season.
Rodgers reportedly appeared on McAfee's show as late as March during the previous two NFL seasons.
Earlier this month, Rodgers sparked a firestorm of controversy when he suggested on McAfee's show that Kimmel could be linked to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The disgraced financier had a vast network of influential associates before committing suicide in prison in 2019 while waiting to be tried on sex trafficking charges.
The New York Jets quarterback's remark about Kimmel incited backlash, not only because of the seriousness of the allegation, but also because it was made on ESPN. Disney is the parent company of both ESPN and ABC.
Kimmel fired back at Rodgers' innuendo, saying that the NFL star's "reckless words" endangered his family and offered to "debate the facts further in court" if he continued.
The comedian spent seven minutes of his Monday night opening monologue addressing the situation and said he wasn't expecting an apology from Rodgers.
On Tuesday, Rodgers responded to Kimmel while making his regular appearance on McAfee's show, reiterating his skepticism of vaccines and declining to apologize.
McAfee said Wednesday that he was "happy" that there would be no more contentious Rodgers appearances because it's "not what we want to be known for."
"We've given a lot of people who have been waiting for us to fail a lot of ammo, and things to attack us for over the last week," McAfee said. "And we would love to get back to the point where we just move on."
"Some of his thoughts and opinions do piss off a lot of people," he added, referring to Rodgers. "And I'm pumped that is no longer going to be every single Wednesday of my life — which it has been for the last few weeks."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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