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New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers will no longer be appearing on ESPN‘s Pat McAfee Show.
McAfee announced the news on his program Wednesday.
“‘Aaron Rodgers Tuesdays’ season four is done,” McAfee said, as his staff applauded. “There will be a lot of people that will be happy with that, myself included, to be honest. With the way it ended, it got real loud. I’m happy that that is not going to be my mentions going forward, which is great news.
“Aaron Rodgers is a Hall of Famer, he’s a four time MVP. He’s a massive piece of the NFL story; whenever you go back and tell it, he will be a huge part of it,” McAfee added. “We are very lucky to get a chance to chat with him and learn from him. Some of his thoughts and opinions though do piss off a lot of people, and I’m pumped that that is no longer gonna be every single Wednesday of my life, which it has been for last few weeks.”
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Rodgers had appeared on McAfee’s show every Tuesday as part of “Aaron Rodgers Tuesdays” segment (Alabama football coach Nick Saban also has a branded segment on Thursdays), and McAfee has confirmed that Rodgers has been paid for his recurring segment.
Of course, over the past few weeks the segment has become a national story after Rodgers (in an apparent joke) claimed that ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel was worried about the “Epstein List” coming out.
McAfee ultimately apologized for his show’s role in the flap, saying, “I can understand” why Kimmel — a fellow Disney employee — would be upset. Rodgers himself appeared on McAfee’s show (seemingly for the final time) on Tuesday, where he responded to Kimmel’s comments by pivoting to a discussion about the COVID-19 vaccine.
In the middle of the flap, McAfee also claimed that a top ESPN executive, Norby Williamson, was “attempting to sabotage” his show.
“On Friday, I obviously threw us in the fire as well,” McAfee quipped about that incident, adding that he will “forever stand by that.”
McAfee occupies an unusual position within ESPN. He produces his own show, and ESPN simply licenses it from him, giving him a lot more autonomy than other ESPN hosts.
The host said Wednesday that the fracas between Rodgers and Kimmel ultimately gave ammunition to people who simply don’t like his show.
“Over the last week we have certainly given them all a lot of stuff to get mad about and become loud about, we’ve messed up in that particular aspect,” McAfee said. “I mean, we’re a conversation show, people are having conversations, we live in a country that has freedom of speech. But also, you’re gonna have to deal with the consequences of your freedom of speech.”
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