Jimmy Kimmel said he didn’t expect an apology from Aaron Rodgers and he didn’t get one from the NFL quarterback on Tuesday’s episode of “The Pat McAfee Show.”
Rodgers instead explained his perspective about his own remarks made on McAfee’s show last week in which he suggested Kimmel might be named in documents identifying associates of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted pedophile who died in jail before he could face trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Kimmel strongly refuted that and pushed back on Rodgers in a social media post last week and in his opening monologue on his late-night show on Monday.
“I’m glad that Jimmy is not on the list. I really am,” Rodgers said Tuesday. “I don’t think he’s the P-word [pedophile.] I think it’s impressive that a man who went to Arizona State and has 10 joke writers can read off a prompter.”
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Rodgers also said that while he is not a “victim,” he believes he was targeted to be “canceled.”
“This is the game plan of the media, and this is what they do,” the athlete said. “They try and cancel, you know? And it is not just me.”
Rodgers referenced jokes Kimmel made on his show years prior about the NFL star’s decision not to get vaccinated against Covid as part of a running history between the two, which he said he’d like to move on from.
“I wish him the best. I don’t give a s— what he says about me,” Rodgers said of Kimmel. “As long as he understands what I actually said, that I’m not accusing him of being on a list and I’m all for moving forward.”
Rodgers also said he is not part of MAGA, as those who are supporters of former President Donald Trump are called.
Kimmel spoke about the controversy for more than seven minutes Monday night.
It was a baseless allegation, Kimmel said, and he let it be known at the top of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that as the Epstein list has come out, “of course, my name isn’t on it and won’t ever be on it.”
“I don’t know Jeffrey Epstein, I’ve never met Jeffrey Epstein,” Kimmel said during his first live show of the new year. “I’m not on a list. I was not on a plane or an island or anything ever, and I suggested that if Aaron wanted to make false and very damaging statements like, that we should do it in court so he can share his proof with, like, a judge.”
Kimmel went on to point out there unfortunately are some who believe the things the injured New York Jets quarterback says, even as he questioned whether Rodgers himself actually believes them.
“Either he actually believes my name was going to be on Epstein’s list – which is insane – or the more likely scenario is he doesn’t actually believe that and he just said it because he’s mad at me for making fun of his top knot and his lies about being vaccinated,” Kimmel said of the well-known vaccine skeptic.
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Kimmel went on to share a clip of himself making fun of Rodgers for having “floated this whacko idea” that news of recent UFO sightings aimed to distract from the Epstein list.
“This is how these nuts do it now,” Kimmel said. “If you don’t like Trump, you’re a pedophile. … It shows you how much they care about pedophilia.”
“The truth still matters,” Kimmel added later. “And when I do get something wrong, which happens on rare occasions, you know what I do? I apologize for it – which is what Aaron Rodgers should do, which is what a decent person would do. But I bet he won’t. If he does, you know what I’ll do? I’ll accept his apology and move on. But he probably won’t do that.”
Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019, had been accused in a federal indictment of running a sex trafficking ring of underage girls, some as young as 14.
CNN has reached out to representatives for Kimmel and Rodgers for additional comment. McAfee has previously apologized for Rodgers’ claims on his show.
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