by Just like when he backs up to pass, Aaron Rodgers scans the world around him and sees enemies everywhere. For the past four years, The Pat McAfee Show, a streaming sensation that recently found a home on ESPN, has provided a forum for the New York Jets quarterback to settle the score and point out other offensive targets, including his grudge against Jimmy Kimmel. .
Rodgers’ three-year feud with Kimmel, which began when the talk show host criticized Rodgers, a stubborn vaccine skeptic, after he tested positive for Covid, reached a worrying turning point last week when Rodgers appeared on McAfee’s show and suggested that the comedian was “nervous” about being linked to Jeffrey Epstein. The quarterback vowed to “pop a bottle of something” if Kimmel’s name appeared in the recent release of documents related to the disgraced financier.
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That led Kimmel to go on X to disavow any connection to Epstein (Kimmel was not named in any Epstein-related documents) and threaten Rodgers with a lawsuit. He later criticized Rodgers on his late-night talk show in a seven-minute monologue that described Rodgers as a special case of dumb jock. “Aaron got two A’s on his report card, and they were both on the word ‘Aaron,’” Kimmel joked.
On Tuesday, Rodgers appeared on McAfee’s show and unloaded both barrels. He ignored Kimmel’s broadside (“I think it’s impressive that a guy who went to Arizona State and has 10 joke writers can read a teleprompter”) and claimed he had been misunderstood (“I won’t call him [a pedophile]”). Things quickly escalated from there.
Rodgers returned to focusing on old grievances. He resumed his rants against mask requirements, federal vaccine mandates and the “pharmaceutical industrial complex,” an incredible phrase for sports television. He promoted alternative treatments for Covid, questioned the safety of vaccines, slandered US pandemic response czar Anthony Fauci as “one of the biggest spreaders of misinformation” (ignoring his own efforts) and recommended viewers read a tome of criticism about the doctor written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a prominent conspiracy theorist. Throughout, Rodgers humbly boasted about his appetite for reading as if he were the first person to discover books and raged against the meanies who would rather take medical advice from professionals than drink ayahuasca at “dark” retreats. Meanwhile, none of Rodgers’ takes, which ranged from bizarre to dangerous, seemed to connect with many of McAfee’s viewers. “This guy is fucking exhausting with the nonsense of him,” one X user huffed.
Still, Rodgers pressed on. He dismissed sportswriters as beneath him, mocked ESPN.com as a clickbait farm and criticized ESPN executive Mike Foss, who last week called Rodgers’ joke with Epstein against Kimmel a “silly joke and objectively inaccurate.”
“I don’t even know who he is,” Rodgers said of Foss on Tuesday. “I don’t work for you, Mike!”
For ESPN to let one of the NFL’s most prominent faces go full QAnon for the better part of a half-hour, peppering the daytime schedule with f-bombs that the censor in charge of the bleeper missed, would seem like a marked shift for a network. that once harshly punished employees for not playing sports at all times. But the Pat McAfee Show is unlike any other ESPN production, with a relaxed dress code and language standards. “The opinions expressed on this show do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of your peers, your boss or ESPN,” the show’s disclaimer reads, a new wrinkle for ESPN. “There may be some bad language because that’s how humans talk in the real world… PS: Don’t sue us.”
McAfee is a former NFL punter who played alongside Peyton Manning in Indianapolis and is widely admired for his lack of filter. His deadpan teammate, former linebacker AJ Hawk, won a Super Bowl with Rodgers in Green Bay. Neither the show’s athletic stars nor their Greek chorus of fawning fans are especially inclined to reject much, if anything, their guests say. After Rodgers’ first encouragement, McAfee made a big show of shutting down controversies and moving on to football matters, only to spontaneously mention Fauci during a discussion about the Steelers’ playoff chances, prompting Rodgers to speak again. None of this was new: Rodgers has repeatedly attacked Fauci on the McAfee show in the past. So it was no surprise that when Jets reporters asked him during Monday’s exit interview what the team needed to avoid another sub-.500 finish next season, many fans rolled their eyes when Rodgers He said “throw the shit out” and eliminate “anything in this.” The construction we are doing individually or collectively has nothing to do with actually winning.”
Rodgers’ appearances with McAfee in particular played a major role in establishing the program’s credibility, especially during the quarterback’s back-to-back MVP seasons in 2020 and 2021. He helped extend the program’s reach to ESPN, which acquired the program last May in five two-year licensing deal worth $85 million in hopes of tapping into McAfee’s younger, skewed audience. When McAfee gave up his $2.5 million annual football salary in 2017 to launch a media career with Barstool Sports, ESPN’s Michael Wilbon believed the gambler was making a serious mistake. “Someone needs to perform an intervention.” [for McAfee]” PTI host said. “People who know this guy, reach out to him. now.” Seven years later, McAfee has not only become a mainstay of the world leader (working at First Take and College GameDay when not hosting his own show), but he has eclipsed Wilbon’s influence at the network and, perhaps, the leader Stephen A. Smith too.
To wit: Last week, McAfee got away with calling Norby Williamson, one of ESPN’s most powerful top executives, a “rat” and an “old hag” who was actively “trying to sabotage us” before a combined audience. live television and streaming of nearly a million viewers. (Plus, The McAfee Show has nearly 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube alone.) “No one is more committed and invested in the success of ESPN than Norby Williamson,” the network said in a statement. “At the same time, we are excited about the multi-platform success we have seen on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN.”
Last October, McAfee admitted to paying Rodgers “more than $1 million” for appearances on his show. In exchange, the quarterback gets a safe spot in the air to rival the home-field advantage he once enjoyed at Lambeau Field, and because he’s merely a guest on The McAfee Show, ESPN has no control over him. Bryan Curtis, media critic for The Ringer, summed up the train wreck this way: “Apparently, no one involved in this story works for anyone. So no one at ESPN can step in and say, ‘Please stop.'”
Tellingly, ESPN’s top brass did not publicly object to anything Rodgers said, and he had been airing baseless Covid chatter for months on McAfee’s show, until the quarterback used his network to launch sneak attacks on Kimmel and his ABC show, even though the networks at play here are owned by Disney. ESPN now faces a dilemma: let McAfee continue giving Rodgers a platform for his rants, or cut ties with the program and confirm to the quarterback (and much of America’s opinion) that dark forces are at work. to silence the “true truth-tellers.” .
Not long ago, Rodgers was one of the league’s sharpest personalities, a down-to-earth superstar who could talk business as easily as he could defend his black peers’ right to protest between turns as a guest host on Jeopardy. . and her public affairs with Danica Patrick and Shailene Woodley. But the more she prattles on to McAfee, the more she reveals herself to be a thin-skinned egomaniacal contrarian who delights in setting fires and spreading misinformation. The disturbing truth is that many viewers will agree with Rodgers and pick up on her “investigation” into Covid and Fauci. At best, McAfee doesn’t challenge Rodgers. Worst case scenario, she’s still running with the quarterback’s most dangerous handoff yet.
