ESPN sports host Pat McAfee announced on Wednesday that the weekly guest appearance by New York quarterback Aaron Rodgers was “done” for the rest of the NFL season.
McAfee made the comments on Wednesday during “The Pat McAfee Show” when he said “‘Aaron Rodgers’ Tuesday Season 4 is done” and said he personally was happy about it.
“There could be a lot of people that are happy with that,” McAfee said. “Myself included, to be honest with you. The way it ended, it got real loud, real loud. I’m happy that is not going to be my mentions going forward, which is great news.”
The sports host said he was ready to move on from this situation.
Pat McAfee says Aaron Rodgers is done appearing on the show for the rest of the NFL season.
Admits people behind the scenes at ESPN have major problems with him, but he’s continuing to push forward.
Says he will never give up control of his show. pic.twitter.com/1MKFV5K4JS
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) January 10, 2024
“Aaron Rodgers is a Hall of Famer,” he added. “He’s a four-time MVP. He’s a massive piece of the NFL story whenever you go back and tell it. He will be a huge part of it. We are very lucky to get a chance to chat with him and learn from him. Some of his thoughts and opinions do piss off a lot of people. I’m pumped that that is no longer every single Wednesday of my life, which it has been for the last few weeks.”
“On Friday I obviously threw us into the fire as well,” McAfee admitted after he claimed that a top ESPN executive, Norby Williamson, was “attempting to sabotage” his show. “I forever stand by that. Everything else, though, just can’t do that and not what we want to be known for.”
It comes after late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel threatened to sue the Jets QB — who suggested that Kimmel could be on the client list of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The comments were made during Rodgers’ weekly appearance on McAfee show on January 2, 2024.
“There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, really hoping that [client list] doesn’t come out,” the NFL star said, adding, “I’ll tell you what, if that list comes out, I definitely will be popping some sort of bottle.”
Kimmel reposted the clip and wrote on X, “Dear Asshole: 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.”
“Your reckless words put my family in danger,” he added. “Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court. [Aaron Rodgers].”
The late-night host then mocked Rodgers on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” calling Rodgers “a hamster-brained man” and saying that the QB “is too arrogant to know how ignorant he is.”
Kimmel said that Rodgers is allowed to have his own opinion, but added a caveat: “saying someone is a pedophile is not an opinion, nor is it trash talk” because “the truth still matters.”
On Tuesday’s McAfee show, Rodgers responded to Kimmel and said he didn’t think Kimmel was a pedophile.
“I totally understand how serious an allegation of pedophilia would be,” Rodgers said. “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’ve made a lot of comments about my intelligence, but I’m not stupid enough to accuse you of that with absolutely zero concrete evidence,” he added. “That’s ridiculous.”