Jimmy Kimmel Threatens to Sue Aaron Rodgers After Quarterback Links Him to Jeffrey Epstein

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kimmel-rodgers - Credit:  Mindy Small; Al Bello/Getty Images
kimmel-rodgers - Credit: Mindy Small; Al Bello/Getty Images

Jimmy Kimmel is setting the record straight — and threatening to sue Aaron Rodgers after the quarterback suggested that the comedian had some sort of link to Jeffrey Epstein.

On Monday, Rodgers said on ESPN that he would pop “some sort of bottle” once a list of associates to Epstein is released, adding that “a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel,” should be scared about being on it. Kimmel, in a tweet Tuesday, clarified that he has never met or “had any contact” with Epstein.

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“Dear Aasshole: 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,” Kimmel wrote.

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

ESPN host Pat McAfee apologized for his role in Rodgers’ interview and acknowledged why Kimmel would be upset on Wednesday. “We obviously don’t like the to be associated with anything negative ever,” he said at the start of his show, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We’d like our show to be an uplifting one a happy one a fun one, but it’s because we talk shit and try to make light of everything.

“Some things obviously people get very pissed off about, especially when they’re that serious allegations,” McAfee continued. “So 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 chit chat and move along.”

The comment from Rodgers comes months after the late-night host joked on his show that the NFL should “revisit the concussion protocol” after Rodgers said he looked forward to seeing what’s on the so-called “Epstein client list” and described him as a “tin foil hatter.”

The “list” that Rodgers refers to is part of the information that a U.S. judge ordered to unseal related to Virginia Giuffre’s settled lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell. The exact scope of the information contained in the documents is unclear, though over 150 Epstein associates could be named.

Many of the files are related to John or Jane Does who have previously spoken publicly about their connections to Epstein, or aired accusations against him. The long-under-seal documents are related to a defamation suit Giuffre — one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers — brought in 2015 against Maxwell, the financier/child sex trafficker’s alleged madam and romantic partner.

Giuffre first went public with allegations of being procured by Maxwell when she was 15, and that she was repeatedly assaulted by Epstein and other powerful men.

Files related to Giuffre’s 2015 defamation suit have trickled out in the past, including just days before Epstein’s death on Aug. 10, 2019. That dump included Giuffre’s allegations against Epstein, and included the names of several other powerful men, including Prince Andrew, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel. (Richardson has denied the accusations and died this year; Brunel died in 2022; and Prince Andrew also denied the accusations and settled his own lawsuit with Giuffre in 2022.)

This article was updated to reflect Pat McAfee’s comments at 1:15 p.m. on Jan. 3.

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