Dan Le Batard has always been open about his political views — and rarely have they aligned with NFL star quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
But on Jan. 9, Le Batard admitted on "The Dan Le Batard Show" that he did not approve of the latest rant of Jimmy Kimmel in his ongoing feud with Rodgers.
"I was asking for the Jimmy Kimmel clips from last night which made me side with Aaron Rodgers," Le Batard said. "You've got seven minutes with ten writers and you've got days to do it, it's got to be not education shaming. It's got to be banger after banger. You've got a team of writers, you're at the top of Disney."
Related: Aaron Rodgers responds to Jimmy Kimmel, throws a jab at an ESPN exec
Le Batard was referring to Kimmel's monologue to open the Monday night episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in which he clapped back at Rodgers by mentioning his educational background.
"We learned during COVID that somehow he knows more than science than scientists," Kimmel said. "A guy who went to community college, then got into Cal on a football scholarship, and didn't graduate. Someone who never spent a minute studying the human body is an expert in the field of immunology."
Le Batard's executive producer Mike Ryan Ruiz also seemed confused by the direction of Kimmel's response, questioning whether the script may changed after going through revisions from legal teams.
"I found myself getting mad as I watched it," Ruiz said. "It was eight minutes of not a single laugh, and I got to imagine it got diluted somehow. He's been on for several weeks — how was that the best shot?"
Related: Here's how Aaron Rodgers just drove a $85 million wedge between ESPN and Pat McAfee
Le Batard continued by insinuating that Kimmel's performance may only fuel those who were not on his side in the first place.
"You realize that the people who don't like Kimmel to begin with, or side with Aaron Rodgers, or are just different politically entirely on this, they're looking at this and saying, 'This is not funny in any way. Kimmel's not funny,'" Le Batard said. I wanted that to be funny. I was rooting for that to be funny."
Rodgers has since responded to Kimmel on "The Pat McAfee Show," saying that he never said that Kimmel was a pedophile in his previous comments, then jabbed back at Kimmel's education.
"I think it’s impressive a man who went to Arizona State and has 10 joke writers can read off a prompter," Rodgers said.
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