Aaron Rodgers fires back at Jimmy Kimmel during weekly spot on 'Pat McAfee Show'

Aaron Rodgers sought to turn down the heat in his ongoing feud with late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday, saying a recent comment he directed at Kimmel was misconstrued by many.

During his weekly appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers urged fans of his and/or McAfee's show not to accuse Kimmel of associating with Jeffrey Epstein, a financier who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, based on anything Rodgers said.

“That [stinks],” he said. “I condemn that 100%. That’s ridiculous, like any type of name-calling is ridiculous. I'm not calling him [a pedophile], and neither should you.

“So it's not backing me up or making me feel good if you're doing that. Let me make that crystal clear. I don't take any [expletive] joy out of it. So don't do that in my name . . . That's not cool. I'm not about that.”

Kimmel more than once has joked about Rodgers’ skeptical stance on COVID-19 vaccines, a topic Rodgers revisited at great length during his roughly hour-long appearance on Tuesday.

Kimmel also had tweaked Rodgers in the past for his interest in a widely anticipated “list” of well-known people who associated with Epstein.

Last week during a discussion on McAfee’s show about Epstein, Rodgers referred to an expected release of Epstein-related documents and said, “That’s supposed to be coming out soon. There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, that are really hoping that doesn’t come out.”

That comment created a storm of criticism of Rodgers for making a seemingly reckless accusation, and it prompted a scathing monologue from Kimmel aimed at Rodgers when his show returned to production on Monday.

“When you hear a guy who won a Super Bowl and did all the State Farm commercials say something like this,” Kimmel said, “a lot of people believe it.

“A lot of delusional people honestly believe I am meeting up with Tom Hanks and Oprah at Shakeys once a week to eat pizza and drink the blood of children.”

Kimmel said his wife, children and even his “poor mailman” have heard such things about him, “thanks to Aaron Rodgers.”

“Aaron Rodgers has a very high opinion of himself,” Kimmel said. “Because he had success on the football field, he believes himself to be an extraordinary being. He genuinely thinks that because God gave him the ability to throw a ball, he’s smarter than everyone else.”

And this: “Aaron got two A’s on his report card and they were both in the word ‘Aaron.’ Can you imagine that this hamster-brained man thinks he knows what the government is up to because he’s a quarterback doing research on YouTube and listening to podcasts?”

On Tuesday, Rodgers reiterated his original quote and noted that he did not accuse Kimmel of anything directly.

“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 made a lot of comments about my intelligence – but I'm not stupid enough to accuse you of that with absolutely zero evidence, concrete evidence. It’s just ridiculous.”

Rodgers accused Kimmel and others of portraying him in an array of unfavorable terms, from “wacko anti-vax” to an antisemite.

“This is the game plan of the media; this is what they do,” he said. “They try and cancel. It's not just me. It's nowhere near just me.”

He added, “I'm not a victim. I don't give a [expletive]. Say whatever the [expletive] you want about me. That's fine. The people that know me and love me know what I'm all about. My teammates know what I'm all about.”

Regarding Kimmel’s monologue, Rodgers said, “I think it's impressive that a man who went to Arizona State and has 10 joke writers can read off a prompter.”

He added, “I wish him the best. Again, I don't give a [expletive] what he says about me. But as long as he understands what I actually said, and that I'm not accusing him of being on a list, I'm all for moving forward.”

Kimmel said on his show that he would let the matter drop if Rodgers would apologize, but he predicted that would not happen. It didn’t.

On a football note, Rodgers, 40, said he plans to play two or three more years. “It’s not one,” he said. “It’s two or more.”

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.