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ESPN host flip-flops on benching of Aaron Rodgers: ‘I’m just getting absolutely crushed’

January 12, 2024 | | Print Article

ESPN host Pat McAfee has proven himself not up to the task of handling politically motivated media controversy.

On Thursday, McAfee surprised a lot of people when he introduced NFL star Aaron Rodgers onto the program to discuss Bill Belichick’s departure from New England — the All-World head coach had been with the team for 24 years and delivered six Super Bowl wins.

Rodgers’ appearance came ONE DAY after McAfee essentially benched the New York Jets quarterback, announcing that Rodgers would no longer appear on the show for the remainder of the NFL season.

McAfee would later explain that he was “getting absolutely crushed” over that announcement and tried to downplay it as a nothing-to-see moment. Rodgers sent liberals into a frenzy after jokingly insinuating that late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel could be on the Jeffrey Epstein list of associates, though his greater sin may have been that he continues to besmirch the COVID-19 jab as not only ineffective but potentially worse.

McAfee said Tuesday the player would not appear again this season on his show that airs on the left-wing sports network: “Aaron Rodgers Season 4 is done. There’s going to be a lot of people that are happy with that — myself included, to be honest.”

“The way it ended, it got real loud and I’m happy that that is not going to be my mentions going forward,” he said, before adding, “We live in country that has freedom of speech. But also you’re going to have deal with the consequences of your freedom of speech. So what I’m saying is we’ve given a lot of people who have been waiting for us to fail a lot of ammo in things to attack to us for over the last week.”

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After ending Thursday’s segment with Rodgers, McAfee addressed the belief many had that he had banned the player by offering a mealy-mouthed excuse that he was simply acknowledging that Rodgers was now in his “offseason,” given that the NFL regular season had concluded — the playoffs begin this weekend.

“So yesterday, I’m just getting absolutely crushed,” McAfee said, “I’m like, ‘How do I explain to all these humans that Aaron Rodgers has an offseason, too, that he enjoys doing?’ And this is how this has always gone with Aaron Rodgers Tuesdays. When his football is over, normally, he’s got — now last year was a little different because of the whole situation that was kinda taking place. That was wild. We were getting absolutely killed. They were like, ‘You turned your back on Aaron Rodgers!’”

“Do you know how many things I’ve been through with Aaron Rodgers just in our short relationship? Yeah, I was not pumped to be in the middle of any of that,” he continued. “We all had friends that put us in situations where we’re like, ‘Did we have to?’ I’ve been that guy.”

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If his explanation is true, then McAfee was clearly trying to appease his liberal listeners (and bosses?) by suggesting on Tuesday that he had banned Rodgers.

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:

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Tom Tillison
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