Pat McAfee opened his ESPN show on Wednesday responding to Jimmy Kimmel’s threatening legal action over Aaron Rodgers’ interview on the show. He wasted no time apologizing while stating he understood why he was so upset because nobody wants to be falsely accused of being on Jeffrey Epstein’s list.
Journalist Jemele Hill gave her two cents on the matter as she weighed in on the Aaron Rodgers-Jimmy Kimmel controversy from ‘The Pat McAfee Show.’
“ESPN, or someone, is going to have to rein this in,” Hill said during Wednesday’s episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. “We know there’s no more offensive crime in the universe of ESPN or Disney than host-on-host crime or talent-on-talent crime. There is no bigger offense. Ask Tony Kornheiser and Hannah Storm. Like there is no bigger thing. I experienced some of this myself when me and Chris Berman got into it behind the scenes and that escalated to a certain level of executive-ness. So we know how this happens.
The former ESPN personality added that Rodgers’ weekly appearances on the show could be done.
“I just have a feeling that is when these conversations are totally going to get out of hand about what Aaron Rodgers is or isn’t allowed to say,” she said. “And there’s a part of me that wonders is this going to be the end of the weekly Aaron Rodgers appearances? Maybe not right now in the moment. But looking down the line, at some point, if you’re ABC or ESPN or those people who get paid to make these decisions, you wonder, ‘is it worth it to have him on if every week there is going to be some kind of headline of him saying something and us making headlines for the wrong reasons?’”
Rodgers’ comments were made during a conversation referencing the release of an impending document that will reveal the identities of dozens of people linked to Epstein, who died by suicide four years ago in jail while awaiting federal sex-trafficking charges.
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McAfee suggested that Rodgers’ remarks were meant to be a “s— talk joke,” but the comedian did not take it that way.
Kimmel issued a statement to X that blasted Rodgers for his claims after a clip went viral on social media.
“For the record, I’ve not met, flown with, visited, or had any contact whatsoever with Epstein, nor will you find my name on any ‘list’ other than the clearly-phony nonsense that soft-brained wackos like yourself can’t seem to distinguish from reality,” Kimmel wrote on the social media platform. “Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court.”
Kimmel and Rodgers have publicly poked fun at one another in the past but it looks like those playful days are long gone now. Rodgers has to come out and respond back to Kimmel, but based on his history, we should expect it to come out soon.
