ESPN initially declined to comment after New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers falsely implied that the name of late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel would appear on the leaked list of associates of deceased and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. That changed on Friday.
After public backlash and even a threat of legal action from Kimmel toward Rodgers, the network has apologized for the Jets QB’s comment in a statement by ESPN senior vice president of production Mike Foss, per Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports on X, formerly Twitter.
BREAKING NEWS: ESPN Is Apologizing For Aaron Rodgers' comments about Jimmy Kimmel on @PatMcAfeeShow.
— Michael McCarthy (@MMcCarthyREV) January 5, 2024
“Aaron made a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel. It should never have happened. We all realized that in the moment,” says ESPN's Mike Foss.
Story coming.
Foss said that Rodgers’s comment about Kimmel “never should have happened,” adding that he believes the Jets QB’s role with The Pat McAfee Show "will continue to evolve."
When the topic of the Epstein list came up during the Tuesday episode of McAfee’s show, Rodgers said “There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel who are hoping that doesn’t come out … if that list comes out, I will definitely be popping some sort of bottles.”
Kimmel later took to X later on Tuesday and ripped Rodgers in a fiery response, threatening to sue the four-time NFL MVP if he kept making comments like that one.
If Rodgers’s comments weren’t enough, ESPN seems to be facing an inner conflict with McAfee, who accused network executive Norby Williamson of attempting to “sabotage” his show, a claim the network addressed in a statement.
New ESPN statement on McAfee:
— Ben Strauss (@benjstrauss) January 6, 2024
"No one is more committed to and invested in ESPN’s success than Norby Williamson... We are thrilled with the multi-platform success...from the Pat McAfee Show across ESPN. We will handle this matter internally and have no further comment.”
McAfee has said that Rodgers still will appear on the show this coming Tuesday.
