Packers QB Aaron Rodgers accused an ESPN and NFL reporter of “fake news” over the Green Bay star’s start of his “darkness retreat” which they said was to figure out his NFL future.
During “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday, Rodgers said ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport spread “fake news” over when the star QB was starting his four-day retreat, which he said hurt his image, Mediaite reported. Rodgers previously explained that his “darkness retreat” is when he goes into total darkness for four days and nights.
“This thing’s been planned for about four months, and it was always the same date. Always the end of this week,” Rodgers shared on the show. “Anybody with the knowledge to the opposite of that is fake news.”
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“There’s an inner circle, right? And in my inner circle, nobody talks to Ian Rapoport, to Adam Schefter, or to any of those people,” he added. “If you’re one of those people who’s talking to those people, it’s a great reminder for you; you’re not in the inner circle.”
“Just stop with the fake news,” Rodgers continued. “I’m not upset about it … it’s classic media you know trying to be first, not trying to be right.”
The Packers QB then challenged people to pause when they hear anything anyone said including President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Joe Rogan, and “question it.”
“I have no problem with Ian Rapoport, Schefter,” the Packers QB said. “I think they’re really good at their jobs. When it comes to me, they don’t know s***. They really don’t. They don’t have people in my inner circle who are sources; I can promise you that. And anybody who would talk to them is not in my inner circle. It’s that simple.”
“I said, after the Super Bowl, I’m gonna go on my darkness retreat, and then I’m probably going to have a better sense about where I’m at in my life,” he added. “I didn’t say, ‘I’m going to my darkness retreat just to figure out if I’m going to play next year or retire.'”
Rodgers then blasted the fake narratives from the reporters who he accused of “not even actually” listening to what he said last Tuesday on McAfee’s show about his planned retreat.
“So for [Rapoport] to say something, ‘Monday through Thursday I was supposed to be in there,’ that was never the plan,” the Packers star said. “It hasn’t been the plan for four months. So don’t make s*** up. I don’t have your number, you’re not gonna have my number, you do a great job, but not when it comes to my life, so stop talking about it.”