Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce tried to take the high road, accepting the monicker of “Mr. Pfizer” bestowed upon him by New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers, however, is not as ready to move on.
“Mr. Pfizer said he didn’t think he’d be in a vax war with me,” Rodgers said on the “Pat McAfee Show” on Oct. 10. “This ain’t a war, homie. This is just a conversation. But if you want to have some sort of duel, debate, have me on the podcast. Come on the [Pat McAfee] Show, let us have a conversation.”
Kelce did, in fact, say he did not foresee this “war” with Rodgers. That was after he was spotted conversing ahead of the Chiefs’ and Jets’ Week 4 tilt on Sunday Night Football. Rodgers chose to keep that conversion private.
His focus on The Pat McAfee Show was on their next conversation, though. And he offered a couple of ideas for how they could do it.
He suggested they hold the debate with a nod to a popular movie series.
“Let’s do it like in 'John Wick 4,'” Rodgers said. “So we both have a second, we both have somebody to help us out. I’m gonna take my man, RFK Jr., who just came out as an independent. And he can have Tony Fauci or some other Pharmacrat, and we can have a conversation about this.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Anthony Fauci have been two of the most polarizing figures in ongoing debates over COVID-19 and the pharmaceutical industry at large. Rodgers has also been at the center of his own bit of vaccine-related controversy.
In addition to falsely claiming to have taken the vaccine, he has also continued to blame a toe injury on the virus.
Kelce’s reasoning behind doing the ad that first drew Rodgers’ comments was not political.
“I mean, I’ve always been, you know — once I got the vaccine, I mean — I got it before of keeping myself safe, keeping my family safe, the people in this building,” Kelce said, per Mike Florio of NBC Sports on Oct. 6. “So, yeah, I stand by it. 1000 percent. And fully comfortable with him calling me Mr. Pfizer.”
Travis Kelce Wished Aaron Rodgers Well
This comes after Kelce revealed their pre-game conversation was mostly well-wishes to the injured Jets star. Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles just four snaps into the season opener.
“Having Aaron there was gonna be that much more entertaining for somebody that’s a fan of the game like I am,” Kelce said on the “New Heights” podcast on Oct. 4. "… So I just told him we were all hurting for him, and, hopefully, he gets healthy quick.”
The injury is typically season-ending.
But Kelce also gave his belief that Rodgers could push to come back this season if the Jets are able to make a run to the postseason. Rodgers successfully underwent a relatively new procedure called an Achilles “speed bridge,” per Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network on Sept. 16.
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