After an explosive set of interviews in which he shared conspiracy theories, remarks about Jimmy Kimmel, and more, the decision has been made to end Aaron Rodgers’ recurring appearances on the “Pat McAfee Show” for the remainder of the NFL season.
Pat McAfee made the announcement during his Wednesday show, a pleasing decision for many who criticized him for giving airtime to the injured New York Jets quarterback.
“So ‘Aaron Rodgers Tuesday,’ season four, is done,” McAfee said on ESPN. “There could be a lot of people that are happy with that. Myself included to be honest with you. The way it ended, it got real loud.”
Looking back at what’s been, the appearances are ending two months earlier than the previous two seasons, when Rodgers joined the show up until March.
The drama started when Rodgers sparked a feud with the late-night host, suggesting Kimmel wouldn’t be happy if a list of people linked to convicted pedophile Jeffery Epstein was released.
Kimmel and many others took this as Rodgers alluding to him being a pedophile, something the quarterback said was taken out of context and was instead a reference to their long back-and-forth history.
Either way, the remarks caused issues in the corporate world as both ESPN and ABC, which hosts the “Jimmy Kimmel Live Show,” are owned by Disney.
In a monologue on Monday night, Kimmel addressed the comments and made several jokes, but also saying that Rodgers used “reckless words” that have put his family “in danger.” He even said if Rodgers continued, the two of them would “debate the facts further in court.”
McAfee, whose show just recently joined ESPN, was quick to apologize for the situation, but Rodgers did not during his Tuesday appearance on the former punter’s show.
Instead, Rodgers shared more of his anti-vaccine beliefs and other conspiracies in a monologue that also saw him call out an ESPN executive by name.
During Wednesday’s show, McAfee said he was “happy” the controversy surrounding Rodgers would be over, saying it’s “not what we want to be known for.”
“We’ve given a lot of people who have been waiting for us to fail a lot of ammo, and things to attack us for over the last week,” McAfee said. “And we would love to get back to the point where we just move on. Some of [Rodgers’] thoughts and opinions do piss off a lot of people. And I’m pumped that is no longer going to be every single Wednesday of my life — which it has been for the last few weeks.”
In a post on social media on Wednesday night, McAfee also expanded on his thoughts, saying that the situation doesn’t make him entirely happy.
“I certainly don’t love that I’ve found myself in political wars and public beefs because of something that a guest has said on our show … but I think what I’ve come to realize is that it’s gonna come with the territory of this venture. We are much more aware of that now,” he said.
He also didn’t rule out a possible reunion.
“I never said he’ll never be on the show again,” McAfee said. “I hope he chooses to still chat with us. We’ve been lucky the last 4 years to ride the wave of a season with a 4X NFL MVP (2 of which during The ART Era) and get his thoughts along the way.. in real time.”