ESPN apologizes, slams Aaron Rodgers for Jimmy Kimmel comment

Sports Entertainment

By Jared Schwartz

ESPN is in full damage control mode in the wake of the Aaron Rodgers-Jimmy Kimmel feud.

The network slammed Rodgers’ comments that have sparked an ongoing controversy.

After Rodgers baselessly implied that Kimmel, the host of ABC’s late-night show, of being on a since-released list of people connected to the late convicted pedophile and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on “The Pat McAfee Show,” ESPN has been forced to apologize.

“Aaron made a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel,” ESPN said Friday in a statement. “It should never have happened. We all realized that in the moment.”

Rodgers, who is paid millions to make a weekly appearance on the show, said he would “pop some sort of bottle” when Kimmel was included on the list.

“It’s supposed to be coming out soon,” Rodgers said during Tuesday’s show. “There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, that are really hoping that doesn’t come out.”

Kimmel subsequently teed off on Rodgers on X, threatening legal action.

“Dear Aasshole: 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 posted. “Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court. @AaronRodgers12.”

McAfee, who notably works at ABC under the same parent company — Disney — as McAfee at ESPN, attempted to walk back Rodgers’ comments during Wednesday’s show and play it off as a joke amid Rodgers and Kimmel’s longstanding feud.

“There is no formal outline of what we’re going to talk about [and] how we’re going to talk about it,” McAfee said. “There is no scheduled conversations, there is no scheduled debates, there is no topics for you to think about before you get in there.

“There is just an opportunity to talk about damn near everything for three and a half hours and in doing so … good times can be had, laughter can be had … and on the flip side, there can be things that are certainly, probably — we’re going to have to hear from Aaron on that — meant to be s–t talk joke that can then become something that is obviously a very serious allegation that then leads to a massive overnight story.”

Neither Rodgers nor McAfee will seemingly face any sort of punishment, however.

Rodgers is expected to continue his appearances throughout the rest of the football season and ESPN plans for him to join the show as usual on Tuesday, according to Front Office Sports.