(The Hill) – NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers did not apologize for comments he made last week suggesting late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was "one of the people really hoping that list doesn’t come out," in reference to a list of associates of Jeffrey Epstein.
Kimmel had also addressed Rodgers' comments in his fiery monologue Monday night, saying Rodgers's accusations may be putting Kimmel's family in danger. He also took shots at Rodgers’ intelligence.
Rodgers, in his response, offered no apology.
"I totally understand how serious an allegation of pedophilia would be, so for him to be upset about that, I get it," Rodgers said Tuesday during his weekly appearance on pundit Pat McAfee's ESPN talk show. "I'm not stupid enough, even though you think I'm an idiot and you made a lot of comments about my intelligence, I'm not stupid enough to accuse of that with absolutely zero evidence, concrete evidence, that's ridiculous."
Rodgers said he was "glad" Kimmel was not named in a deposition from a lawsuit connected to Epstein unsealed by a judge last week, and added he would "like to put this to bed," in reference to his war of words with Kimmel.
Kimmel and Rodgers have been trading barbs over the last several days after the late-night host threatened to sue the star quarterback after he named him during a conversation on McAfee's show about Epstein's crimes.
The episode sparked widespread backlash and compelled McAfee to apologize for giving Rodgers a platform to float a baseless theory about Kimmel.
“Some things, obviously, people get very pissed off about, especially when they’re that serious allegations. So, we apologize for being a part of it,” McAfee previously said. “Can’t wait to hear what Aaron has to say about it. Hopefully those two will just be able to settle this. Not court-wise, but be able to chitchat and move along.”
ESPN executives have also reportedly been irritated by the back-and-forth between the NFL signal caller and one of the leading talents at ABC, its sister company.
“Pat announced today that he’s planning on Aaron joining the show Tuesday. Aaron made a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel,” Mike Foss, a senior vice president at the network who oversees McAfee's program, told The Athletic late last week.
Rodgers responded to Foss directly on Tuesday, saying he was "not helping."
"This is the game plan of the media. This is what they do, they try and cancel," Rodgers said. "If you look at all the different people who have been censored from the internet, especially during COVID … they use these words to cancel people and went and ran with this because it's the crazy whacko anti-vax guy accusing somebody of being a pedophile. Like of course, incorrect, but that's the environment we're in."