Aaron Rodgers made an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Thursday one day after host Pat McAfee said the New York Jets quarterback wouldn’t appear for the rest of the season.
Rodgers had stirred up controversy over his comments on the show about Jimmy Kimmel and the recently released Jeffrey Epstein documents, as well as spouting conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Rodgers called into the show Thursday via webcam to pay his respects to Bill Belichick, the former New England Patriots head coach, who parted ways with the team on Thursday.
ESPN, which airs “The Pat McAfee Show,” declined to comment on Rodgers’ latest appearance.
Days prior, the football star landed himself in hot water when he said on air that “a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel” were “really hoping that [Epstein list] doesn’t come out.”
Many took Rodgers’ remarks as an implication that Kimmel participated in similar activities as convicted sex offender Epstein. In response, the comedian blasted Rodgers on social media and in one of his monologues on his late night show. The next day, Rodgers said that the media took his words out of context.
McAfee announced on his show Wednesday that the football player wouldn’t appear on the show for the rest of the season, noting he was “pumped” that he would no longer have to deal with the controversy.
“Aaron Rodgers is a Hall of Famer, he is a four-time MVP, he is a massive part of the NFL story whenever you go back and tell it,” McAfee said. “We are very lucky to get a chance to chat with him and learn from him. Some of his thoughts and opinions, though, do piss off a lot of people.”
After many took McAfee’s remarks to mean that Rodgers was banned from the show, the talk show host wrote on X, formerly Twitter, to clarify that the show’s segment “Aaron Rodgers Tuesdays” has always ended when Rodgers’ season ended, but that the quarterback will “make random surprise welcomed pop ins during big events or offseason adventures.”
McAfee contended that he “never said [Rodgers will] never be on the show again.”
After the video call ended Thursday, McAfee briefly acknowledged that while the Super Bowl champion wasn’t supposed to appear on the show for the rest of the season, it was important to Rodgers to pay homage to Belichick.
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