Pat McAfee Addresses Aaron Rodgers’s Inflammatory Comments About Jimmy Kimmel

One day removed from an explosive interview with New York Jets star Aaron Rodgers, in which the quarterback accused ABC late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel of potentially being named in unsealed documents containing associates of deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, ESPN’s Pat McAfee opened his Wednesday show by addressing the elephant in the room.

“I can see exactly why Jimmy Kimmel felt the way he felt, especially with his position. But I think Aaron was just trying to talk s---,” McAfee said during an opening monologue on Wednesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show.

McAfee alluded to “wheeling and dealing” on his show, referring to the freelancing nature where guests are planned but discussions are not. McAfee referenced prior issues stemming from jokes he made on the show, including one which led to a lawsuit from Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre when discussing the Mississippi welfare fraud scandal.

Here’s the full audio from McAfee’s opener to the show on Wednesday:

We like our show to be an uplifting one.#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/bbT65oZQNN

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 3, 2024

There’s little doubt that ESPN spoke to McAfee about the Rodgers interview from Tuesday, especially since the network reportedly refused to issue comment about whether or not the future status of the quarterback’s appearances on the program would be reviewed, according to A.J. Perez of Front Office Sports. 

There’s certainly more to come from this story, but Tuesday’s interview with Rodgers proved that ESPN is pushing the envelope with the free-spirited McAfee’s show being simulcast to national television audiences on a daily basis. 

McAfee isn’t going to change for anybody. It’s been a significant reason for his ascent in media since his retirement from the NFL. ESPN knew going in that it would have to roll with the punches when controversy arose, and Tuesday’s show is a clear example of that.