New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodger's new year is starting about as well as his debut with the Jets went. On Tuesday, Rodgers was making his normal weekly gig on the Pat McAfee show, when he put his broken foot in his mouth by insinuating that Jimmy Kimmel was tied in with the Jeffrey Epstein documents that were released this week:
During a recent appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, the New York Jets player 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.”
Apparently Qaaron Rodgers' comments were because, over the years, Kimmel has made the occasional joke at Rodgers' expense, and this hurt Qaaron's fee fees.
After Qaaron's idiotic comments, Kimmel was pissed, rightfully so, and threatened to take Qaaron to court:
But that was just the beginning of the fallout from Qaaron's poor decision making. On the very next day after Qaaron once again proved to the world that he was a dumbass, Pat McAfee felt compelled to make an apology of sorts, although it was rather half-assed:
But wait! There's more. There's always more.
Now corporate is getting into it. McAfee's show is aired on ESPN, which is owned by Disney. Likewise, Jimmy Kimmel Live is aired on ABC, which is also owned by Disney. Mickey doesn't like this kind of strife within its ranks.
So, on Friday, ESPN felt it necessary, or was made to feel it was necessary, to step in and offer their own apology for Qaaron's offensive comments:
Through ESPN vice president of digital production Mike Foss, the network called the comments Rodgers made about Kimmel in relation to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein court documents "a dumb and factually inaccurate joke."
"It never should have happened," Foss said in a statement obtained by USA TODAY Sports. "We all realized that in the moment."
[...]
"The show will continue to evolve," Foss told FOS. "It wouldn't surprise me if Aaron's role evolves with it."
It sounds like the ball is back in Kimmel's court. If he is appeased by the apologies, things will settle down and eventually blow over. But if Kimmel chooses to push it further, which would be entirely in his right to do so, well, Kimmel is the bigger star of the two and thus Rodgers would be much more vulnerable to getting sacked.
