Jimmy Kimmel Slams “Ignorant” Aaron Rodgers During Seven-Minute On-Air Rant After Epstein Flap

Jimmy Kimmel addressed the ongoing controversy over Aaron Rodgers’ recent comments linking the late night host with Jeffrey Epstein on Monday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, launching into a seven-minute rant that described the New York Jets star as a “hamster-brained man” who was “too arrogant to be ignorant.”

Kimmel went after Rodgers during his monologue, recapping events from his perspective. The clash between the pair began when Rodgers, during a recent appearance on ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show, said, “There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, who are really hoping [the list] doesn’t come out. … I’ll tell you what, if that list comes out, I’ll definitely will be popping some sort of bottle.”

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Following Rodgers’ comments, Kimmel took to X, threatening to take Rodgers to court over what the NFL star said. When the list of Epstein associates was finally revealed, Kimmel’s name was not on it. “I don’t know Jeffrey Epstein, I’ve never met Jeffrey Epstein,” Kimmel said on his show.

Kimmel then proceeded to speculate why Rodgers would mention his name and figured it was retaliation for a 2023 segment on his show that poked fun at the NFL star’s penchant for conspiracy theories around the COVID-19 pandemic. “The more likely scenario is, [Rodgers] doesn’t actually believe that he just said it because he’s mad at me for making fun of his top knot and his lies about being vaccinated.”

The host added, “[Rodgers] saw that and maybe … he decided to insinuate that I am a pedophile. This is how these nuts do it now. You don’t like Trump, you’re a pedophile. It’s their go-to move, and it shows you how much they actually care about pedophilia.”

Holding nothing back, Kimmel then described Rodgers as someone who typifies the Dunning-Kruger effect, a phenomenon where “people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities.” He continued, “Aaron Rodgers has a very high opinion of himself, because he had success on the football field, he believes himself to be an extraordinary being. He genuinely thinks that because God gave him the ability to throw a ball, he’s smarter than everyone else. The idea that his brain is just average is unfathomable to him, we learned during COVID.

“[Rodgers] knows more about science than scientists. A guy who went to community college, then got into Cal 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,” Kimmel said.

He continued, “Aaron got two A’s on his report card. They were both in the word Aaron, OK … That this hamster-brained man thinks he knows what the government is up to because he’s a quarterback, doing research on YouTube and listening to podcasts.

“Aaron Rodgers is too arrogant to know how ignorant he is,” Kimmel added. “They let him host Jeopardy! for two weeks. Now, he knows everything.”

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