Instead of apologizing to Jimmy Kimmel, Aaron Rodgers takes shots at Arizona State and ESPN

Aaron Rodgers just can’t help himself.

He also can’t apologize, evidently. The New York Jets quarterback had a chance Tuesday to ease the now-ongoing feud between himself and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, a night after Kimmel excoriated him on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and a week after Rodgers implied that Kimmel would appear on a list of associates of Jeffrey Epstein.

Kimmel didn’t. Rodgers, who made the comments on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Jan. 2, just kept piling on the blather on the show on Tuesday, Jan. 9 in a bizarre, rambling appearance, blaming the media for misinterpreting him, among other things. And he got a shot in at Arizona State University while he was at it.

This all started ugly and Rodgers is making it worse. He and Kimmel have gone back and forth over the years, mostly about Rodgers’ spreading of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. But Rodgers recent comment about Kimmel drew a harsh response, as well as legal threats.

Kimmel buried Rodgers on his late-night show

During his weekly, paid visit to McAfee's show on Jan. 2, the conversation ran towards Epstein, who died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Why? Because Rodgers just says whatever pops into his head, it seems. Anyway, Rodgers said, “A lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, are hoping that (list) doesn’t come out.”

What a stupid thing to even think, much less say out loud.

Kimmel, understandably, was upset — so much so that in addition to denying on X, formerly Twitter, any association whatsoever with Epstein, he made a legal threat: “Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court.”

Which is the correct response. For too long we've sat idly by while people make wild accusations. Enough, already.

Then Rodgers called out ESPN's Mike Foss

The next day McAfee offered a roundabout sideways almost-apology. Later in the week ESPN executive Mike Foss called Rodgers’ words “deeply dumb and factually inaccurate.” Rodgers went after him on Tuesday, too.

Monday night on his Jan. 8 show, Kimmel, back from vacation, laid into Rodgers in his monologue. Just brutal stuff. He said a lot, but this was perhaps the strongest segment: “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. A lot of delusional people honestly believe I am meeting up with Tom Hanks and Oprah at Shakeys once a week to eat pizza and drink the blood of children. And I know this because I hear from these people. Often my wife hears from them. My kids hear from them. My poor mailman hears from these people. And now we’re hearing from lots more of them, thanks to Aaron Rodgers.”

Kimmel said he would accept an apology from Rodgers, but wasn’t expecting one. Good thing, because he didn’t get it. Rodgers said he was glad Kimmel wasn’t on the list, and that he didn’t think Kimmel was a pedophile.

Big of him.

Rodgers blamed the media. Of course he did

Rodgers went on to blame the media for trying to cancel him.

“This is the game plan of the media,” he said on McAfee’s show. “This is what they do. They try and cancel. And it’s not just me. It’s nowhere near just me. I mean, you can look at all the different people who’ve been censored from the internet — especially during Covid. They’re canceling everyone on the censorship, using the government to try and censor people. And if that doesn’t work, then they go to name calling.”

Come on. This is a guy who has put doubt in the minds of some of his vans about vaccines, and he's still at it. On Tuesday he called Dr. Anthony Fauci “one of the biggest spreaders of misinformation during Covid times." He clearly implied that Kimmel, who has gone after him for his anti-vax comments, was on the Epstein list. He screwed up and he got called out for it. It’s not surprising he’s playing the blame game.

He also made fun of ASU, which Kimmel attended.

During his takedown, Kimmel mocked Rodgers, saying he “knows more about science than scientists. A guy who went to community college, then got into (the University of California) on a football scholarship and didn’t graduate. Someone who never spent a minute studying the human body is an expert in the field of immunology.”

Toward the end of his bit Tuesday, Rodgers shot back: “I think it’s impressive that a man who went to Arizona State and has 10 joke writers can read off the prompter. My education and JUCO and my three semesters at Cal, which I’m very proud of, has worked out for me and I’m glad to see it’s worked out for him as well. I wish him the best, but I don’t give a s--t what he says about me, as long as he understands what I actually said and I’m not accusing him for being on a list.’’

Clearly he does care about what Kimmel says. ESPN should, too. So maybe it's time for Rodgers to just stop talking. Or if he's got to say something, how about, "I was wrong, and I'm sorry."

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Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. X, formerly known as Twitter: @goodyk.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Aaron Rodgers has no appology for Jimmy Kimmel. And no love for ASU