Aaron Rodgers is off ESPN’s ‘Pat McAfee Show’ for remarks about Jimmy Kimmel; returns hours later

Aaron Rodgers may not be returning to “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN at least through the NFL playoffs, McAfee announced on the show on Wednesday.

But that move was short-lived.

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Update 1:42 p.m. EST Jan. 11: Despite the announcement that Rodgers would not be on McAffee’s show, he appeared on the broadcast on Thursday, a day after he was said to be done for the NFL playoffs season.

McAfee shared a clip on social media with Rodgers speaking from “out here in the woods.”

The appearance came hours after the announcement that now-former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was leaving the team he had led for 24 seasons.

McAfee said that Rodgers was the “last human” that Belichick had spoken to on the field as head coach.

The Patriots’ last game for the 2023 season was a 17-3 loss against Rodgers’ New York Jets at Gillette Stadium.

--Natalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Original report: The move comes after an ongoing feud between Rodgers and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel heated up when Rodgers suggested that Kimmel could be linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 in a New York City jail cell awaiting trial on federal conspiracy and sex trafficking charges. During the past two weeks, several lists of names linked to Epstein have been released.

“A lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, are hoping that doesn’t come out,” Rodgers said during an appearance on the ESPN show. He was referring to a list of names of people who were connected to Epstein that was to be made public.

McAfee announced that the weekly segment “Aaron Rodgers Tuesday” where the New York Jets quarterback would appear on the show to talk about football and other often controversial issues, would no longer be featured for the remainder of this football season, The Associated Press reported.

“I’m pumped that that is no longer gonna be every single Wednesday of my life,” McAfee said.

“There’s gonna be a lot of people that are happy with that, myself included. To be honest, the way it ended, it got real loud… I’m happy that he’s not gonna be [in] my mentions going forward, which is great news.”

Kimmel responded to Rodgers’ Jan. 2 comments about the Epstein list in a tweet: “Dear [Aa--hole]: for the record, I’ve not met, flown with, visited, or had any contact whatsoever with Epstein, nor will you find my name on any ‘list’ other than the clearly-phony nonsense that soft-brained wackos like yourself can’t seem to distinguish from reality. Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court. @AaronRodgers12.”

Kimmel doubled down on Rodgers’ comments in a 7-minute monologue earlier this week, pointing out the difference between comments made on a late-night entertainment show and the comments Rodgers made.

“And as far as the ‘Well, you say things about people all the time’ argument goes, yes, I do. It’s not the same. It’s not even close to the same,” Kimmel said. “We say a lot of things on this show. We don’t make up lies. In fact, we have a team of people who work very hard to sift through facts and reputable sources before I make a joke, and that’s an important distinction — a joke about someone.”

After Kimmel’s monologue, Rodgers said Kimmel had misunderstood his comments, but he did not apologize for them.

“I totally understand how serious an allegation of pedophilia would be, so for him to be upset about that, I get it,” Rodgers said, without apologizing.

Rodgers criticized Mike Foss, an ESPN executive who oversees McAfee’s show, for saying that Rodgers had made “a dumb and factually inaccurate joke” about Kimmel, the AP reported.

“Mike, you’re not helping,” Rodgers said. “You’re not helping because I just read earlier exactly what I said. This is the game plan of the media and this is what they do: They try to cancel, you know, and it’s not just me.”

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