Posted in: ABC, NFL, Opinion, Sports, TV, TV | Tagged: Aaron Rodgers, ABC, espn, jimmy kimmel, opinion, pat mcafee

Aaron Rodgers Responds to Jimmy Kimmel: "All for Moving Forward"

On today's The Pat McAfee Show, Aaron Rodgers responded to Jimmy Kimmel's late-night comments, saying that he's "all for moving forward."

ABC's Jimmy Kimmel had his say last night, spending over seven minutes responding to the comments that New York Jets QB Aaron Rodgers made regarding the late-night host and the first big data dump of documents pertaining to the court matters surrounding the conviction of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Now, it was Rodgers's turn to chime in – having given the public a heads-up during Monday's postseason team press conference that he would address the matter on today's edition of The Pat McAfee Show (before knowing how Kimmel would respond on-air). If Kimmel wasn't expecting an apology, then he wasn't disappointed. While claiming to be all about "moving forward," a large chunk of what Rodgers had to say sounded like a mix of "That's not what I meant" and "Hey, I've had it hard, too!" For example, at one point, Rodgers states, "I still haven't popped a bottle because there hasn't been any list that's come out. I'm glad Jimmy is not on the list. I really am. I don't think he's the P-word." You can't attempt to be sincere when you drop a line like "…because there hasn't been any list that's come out…" first because it sounds like you're not fully committed to believing that Kimmel isn't a "P-word." In addition, Rodgers claiming in a weird way that this was all a response to Kimmel's comments about Rodgers's questionable COVID beliefs felt like a reach.

"A lot of people, and I'm quoting myself, 'A lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, are really hoping that [list] doesn't come out.' End quote. I was referring to the fact that if there is a list, which again hasn't come out yet, this was just a deposition," Rodgers stated at one point, looking to make the case that he was accusing Kimmel of being a pedophile. "I totally understand how serious allegations of pedophilia would be. So for him to be upset about that, I get it. 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 with absolutely zero evidence. That's ridiculous."

Rodgers even went the victim route as he took a final jab back at Kimmel – attempting to go a David/Goliath route to paint himself in a sympathetic light. "It's impressive that a man who went to Arizona State and has 10 joke writers can read off a prompter," Rodgers said. "My education at [junior college] and my three semesters at Cal that I'm very proud of has worked out for me, and I'm glad to see it's worked out for him as well. 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 a list, then I'm all for moving forward."

During Monday night's edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live, the late-night host spent over seven minutes just picking apart Aaron Rodgers on every possible level. As Kimmel sees it, Rodgers is like other famous people who are so good at one thing that they believe that they're good at everything: Rodgers is "too arrogant to know how ignorant he is." From there, he addresses the clear difference between jokes made on a late-night and what Rodgers did – and how they don't just make things up that can get people (and their loved ones) hurt – or worse. From there. Kimmel suggests that the best thing that Rodgers could do would be to apologize – which Kimmel said he would accept – and move on. But he doesn't believe that Rodgers will – "congratulating" Rodgers for finding a way to make the New York Jets look even worse before introducing footage of Donald Trump with Epstein to show what someone who used to pal around with Epstein looks like.

Here's a look at the full video of Rodgers' postseason press conference from earlier on Monday, where he shared that he would be addressing the Kimmel/McAfee situation on Tuesday – followed by a look back at McAfee addressing the controversy last week and what led up to all of this:

Pat McAfee Offers Jimmy Kimmel/Aaron Rodgers Mea Culpa

"There could be some things that were certainly, probably –  I mean, we're gonna have to hear from Aaron on that – meant to be a shit talk joke that can then become something that is obviously a very serious allegation, that then leads to a massive overnight story, one in which I put the baby down to sleep, I haven't seen her in a while, then pick up my phone and oohhhh Boy," McAfee began his show with, addressing the Kimmel/Rodgers controversy – adding that the show's team was "rolling on two hours of sleep" heading into Tuesday's show. "We obviously don't like to be associated with anything negative ever. We'd like our show to be an uplifting one, a happy one, a fun one, but it's because we talk shit and try to make light of everything."

"Some things obviously people get very pissed off about, especially when they're that serious allegations," McAfee continued. "So we apologize for being a part of it. I can't wait to hear what Aaron has to say about it. Hopefully, those two will just be able to settle this, you know, not work-wise, but be able to chit-chat and move along." While McAfee can understand Kimmel's position on the matter, he still appears willing to give Rodgers the benefit of the doubt – even implying that Rodgers' may have seen his comments as retaliation to comments the late-night host made during his monologues. "I can understand why Jimmy got incredibly upset, yeah, I definitely completely understand that, especially with his position, but also I think Aaron is like, 'hey, this guy has said some stuff about me in his monologue,' and he's just trying to shit talk," McAfee explained. "I don't think he meant anything else, but he's gonna have to clarify that for us."

Jimmy Kimmel, Pat McAfee/Aaron Rodgers & Jeffrey Epstein Comments

At one point during the broadcast (you can check it out below beginning at around the 28:05 mark), McAfee's co-host, AJ Hawk, brought up the topic of Epstein's list being released. That appeared to bring a lot of joy to Rodgers' life, with the proud anti-vaxxer saying, "A lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, are really hoping that doesn't come out," implying that Kimmel should have concerns about being implicated in some kind of activity with Epstein & his associates. Rodgers added, "I'll tell you what, if that list comes out, I definitely will be popping some sort of bottle." Well, it didn't take too long for Kimmel to take to Twitter to call out Rodgers, not finding anything "funny" about what Rodgers was insinuating.

"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 wrote in response, retweeting the clip in question that includes Rodgers' comments. "Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up, and we will debate the facts further in court."

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