There's a new chapter in the beef between Jimmy Kimmel and Aaron Rodgers.
The late night host took shots at Rodgers during his opening monologue on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Thursday, Mar. 14 centered around the news that the New York Jets quarterback was in consideration to become Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate as Vice President.
Kimmel referred to Rodgers as a "professional quarterback slash conspiracy theorist" and "Q-Aron," which is a play on the far-right conspiracy theorist movement, "QAnon."
The host also explained the report from CNN on Wednesday that Rodgers had reportedly had private conversations accusing mainstream media about covering up a false flag operation about the Sandy Hook school shooting. Rodgers responded to the CNN report on social media, calling what the shooting "an absolute tragedy."
"I am not and have never been of the opinion that the events did not take place," Rodgers wrote on X (formerly Twitter), before sending his thoughts and prayers to the affected families.
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As I’m on the record saying in the past, what happened in Sandy Hook was an absolute tragedy. I am not and have never been of the opinion that the events did not take place. Again, I hope that we learn from this and other tragedies to identify the signs that will allow us to…
— Aaron Rodgers (@AaronRodgers12) March 14, 2024
However, Kimmel called the post a "non-denial denial."
"Notice that he never said that he didn't say it to somebody," Kimmel said in his monologue.
Kimmel then went on to mock Rodgers' conspiracy theories, sharing an obviously satirical story that he referred to as "the truth" about Rodgers over the last few months.
"The truth is what the deep state won't tell you is that Aaron Rodgers never played football," Kimmel joked. "In fact, the first time he ever played in an NFL game was last year, the week before his first game with the Jets, Aaron's body double, the guy who had played every single game for him before this, died of COVID and they had nobody dumb looking enough to fill in so they bring in the real Aaron Rodgers and he had to go in and fake an injury on the third play of opening day."
(Note: Rodgers was injured on the fourth play of the Jets' opener against the Buffalo Bills.)
Kimmel continued poking fun at Rodgers' conspiracy theories saying that people who don't believe Kimmel's story should "do their own research."
To end his segment of Rodgers, Kimmel changed away from the fake story but took one last shot at Rodgers.
"That story, by the way, is more believable than what Aaron Rodgers told people about Sandy Hook," Kimmel said.
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Rodgers and Kimmel have been going back and forth dating all the way back to the middle of last year when Kimmel first called Rodgers a "Green Bay Wack-Packer" on his show after the quarterback talked about his thoughts on unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
The Jets quarterback had often expressed thoughts and theories publicly as a guest on "The Pat McAfee Show," and in January, when the show had already started airing on ESPN, Rodgers took aim at Kimmel by suggesting he would a part of the list of people linked to infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The two created a back and forth that also escalated into a civil war between McAfee and ESPN, whose parent company, Disney (DIS) , has also aired "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on ABC for the last two decades.
Rodgers has been more quiet over the last few months, and it's unclear whether he will make another appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" soon to address his potential candidacy or reply to Kimmel.
TheStreet reached out to ESPN for comment on Rodgers' status with "The Pat McAfee Show," but they didn't respond in time for this story.
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