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After making national headlines last week with his potentially defamatory comments about Jimmy Kimmel, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers addressed the situation on Monday.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Rodgers’ first public comments about the situation were self-serving as he simply told me to “tune in” to The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday for his latest televised therapy session.
“I’m going to talk about it tomorrow on the show. Tune in,” Rodgers told reporters on Monday following the Jets’ final game of the season, a 17-3 win over the New England Patriots.
Aaron Rodgers on his Jimmy Kimmel comments: "I'm going to talk about it tomorrow on the show. Tune in."
— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) January 8, 2024
During his first Pat McAfee Show appearance of the year on Tuesday, January 2, Rodgers created a firestorm by suggesting that late night host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel — who is employed by Disney, the company that owns ESPN, whose airwaves Rodgers used to make these comments — is an associate of Jeffrey Epstein.
Kimmel responded to Rodgers a few hours later on Twitter by denying any links to Epstein and threatening him with litigation.
Since then, while McAfee and ESPN have been left to clean up the mess and issue apology statements, Rodgers has been, for once, quiet on the subject. That, however, will apparently change on Tuesday, January 9 when he goes back on McAfee’s show.
Similarly, Kimmel is also set to host his first show of the new year on Monday, January 8. Given that he’s reportedly considering legal actions against Rodgers, however, it’s unlikely that he’ll address the situation on-air.
In addition to his comments about the Kimmel controversy, Rodgers also discussed next season of the Jets, ironically saying that “The bulls— that has nothing to do with winning, needs to get out of the building.”
Without the services of Rodgers, who tore his Achilles just four snaps into the season (he didn’t even complete a single pass), the Jets finished the 2023 season with a 7-10 record and missed the playoffs for the 13th straight season, which is the longest current postseason drought in American professional sports.
According to Rodgers, he hopes his marriage with the Jets extends beyond just next season.