Aaron Rodgers Breaks Silence On Jimmy Kimmel Feud

Former Green Bay Packers and current New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Tuesday addressed his public feud with ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel during his weekly paid appearance on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show."

Rodgers did not apologize for his role in the beef, claiming his remarks about Kimmel and the "Epstein list" were misconstrued.

"I’m glad that Jimmy is not on the list, I really am, I don’t think he’s the P-word," Rodgers said, before adding: "I think it’s impressive that a man who went to Arizona State and has 10 joke writers can read off a prompter."

"I wish him the best. Again, I don’t give a s--- what he says about me, but as long as he understands what I actually said, that I’m not accusing him of being on a list, I’m all for moving forward."

Rodgers went on to attack what he calls the "woke establishment," specifically mentioning ESPN executives and former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Anthony Fauci.

Last week, Rodgers suggested without evidence on the program that Kimmel, the ABC late-night host, would appear on a list of people associated with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

"There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, really hoping that doesn’t come out," Rodgers said on the live stream. "I’ll tell you what, if that list comes out, I definitely will be popping some sort of bottle."

Kimmel responded on social media by calling Rodgers an expletive and stating that: "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."

Kimmel added: "Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court."

McAfee showed remorse the day after, stating on his show that: "Some things obviously people get very pissed off about, especially when they’re that serious allegations," and adding: "We apologize for being a part of it. I can’t wait to hear what Aaron has to say about it. Hopefully, those two will just be able to settle this, you know, not work-wise, but be able to chitchat and move along."

The release of Epstein's list of associates has not included the name "Jimmy Kimmel."

Rodgers' initial comments were presumably a joke response to Kimmel's own jokes made at the quarterback's expense back in March. During his standup monologue, Kimmel said that Rodgers needs to go into concussion protocol due to his spreading of conspiracy theories.

Global media giant Disney owns both ESPN — which pays Rodgers to be on the Pat McAfee show — and the ABC network, which employs Kimmel.

ESPN's sole comment on the situation has come from Vice President of Digital Production Mike Foss, who told USA TODAY that Rodgers' comments were "a dumb and factually inaccurate joke" that "never should have happened," and that: "We all realized that in the moment."