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During his opening monologue on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Monday, Jan. 8, Kimmel called for Rodgers, a New Jersey resident who bought an Essex County mansion in Cedar Grove after his trade to Gang Green, to apologize for saying on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show" last week that Kimmel would be on a list of clients who flew on the disgraced financier's private jet.
"When you hear a guy who won a Super Bowl and did all the State Farm commercials say something like this, a lot of people believe it," Kimmel quipped.
Hundreds of court documents from a lawsuit related to Epstein, who killed himself in a Manhattan federal prison in 2019, were ordered released by a judge that featured the names of people who flew on the wealthy financier's private jet, like Prince Andrew and President Bill Clinton.
"There's a lot of people including Jimmy Kimmel who are really hoping that doesn't come out," Rodgers said, the day the names were released.
Kimmel said Rodgers was retaliating after the host called him a "wack packer" for his initial interest in Epstein's client list, anti-vaccination stance, and general penchant for conspiracy theories. Kimmel's name was nowhere to be found on any of the released documents about Epstein.
"He decided to insinuate that I am a pedophile," Kimmel said. "This is how these nuts do it now. You don't like Trump, you're a pedophile. It's their go-to move, and it shows you how much they actually care about pedophilia."
The late-night talk show host continued to twist the knife in, mocking Rodgers for thinking he was smarter than everyone else because of his football prowess.
"Aaron got two As on his report card. They were both in the word Aaron, OK?," Kimmel said. "Aaron Rodgers is too arrogant to know how ignorant he is."
Kimmel said if Rodgers apologized, he would accept his apology and move on. Mike Foss, an ESPN senior vice president who oversees “The Pat McAfee Show,” issued a statement to several media outlets on Friday, Jan. 5, condemning Rodgers' remarks.
"Pat announced today that he’s planning on Aaron joining the show Tuesday [Jan. 9]," Ross told The Athletic and Front Office Sports. "Aaron made a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel. The show will continue to evolve. It wouldn’t surprise me if Aaron’s role evolves with it.”
McAfee also apologized for the segment the next day. But everyone is still waiting for Rodgers' response. Rodgers declined to address the issue during an end-of-the-season press conference, promising to address the issue on his next appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show."
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