Jimmy Kimmel and Aaron Rodgers have recently been in the news together after the New York Jets quarterback went on The Pat McAfee Show, where he implied that Kimmel may have a connection to the disgraced Jeffrey Epstein.
That led to a public back-and-forth between the two and, while speaking to CNN ahead of hosting the Oscars, Kimmel said it wasn’t like he’d welcome Rodgers onto his show Jimmy Kimmel Live! In particular, that’s because he feels that it’s Rodgers’ responsibility to reach out to him over the conflict.
“Probably not,” Jimmy Kimmel told CNN. “The way I look at it. The next step is for Aaron Rodgers to reach out to me – not the other way around. So, I don’t see that happening. Listen, we have some major differences in the way we think.”
Despite getting injured during the first game of the 2023 season, Aaron Rodgers has consistently made headlines during his time with the Jets. However, one of the most controversial was what he said about Jimmy Kimmel, implying that the late-night host could appear on a list of celebrities tied to Jeffrey Epstein.
In response to Rodgers’ comments, Kimmel threatened to take the New York quarterback to court. ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro also, reportedly, called Kimmel to apologize for those comments. ESPN’s Mike Foss also released a public apology about the remarks.
“Aaron made a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel. It should never have happened. We all realized that in the moment,” Foss said.
The comments from Aaron Rodgers also prompted Jimmy Kimmel to respond during a monologue on his show. During that monologue, Kimmel emphasized that he has no association with Jeffrey Epstein. He also pointed out that people will believe lies and that one reason for those lies would be that the two previously went back-and-forth over vaccinations. Kimmel also accused Rodgers of having a very high opinion of himself.
Aaron Rodgers claims Jimmy Kimmel-Jeffrey Epstein comments were taken out of context
Amid the controversy, Aaron Rodgers argued that his comments had been taken out of context.
“I had said on the McAfee Show before, they had talked about — you know forever they talked about releasing the Epstein list or whatever. And I had said that on the show,” Rodgers said.
“And he had gone on his show and called me a tin foil hat-wearing doofus who is talking about – I thought he said that I’m an idiot for even thinking there’s a list that’s out there.”
More must-reads: