There was a time in journalism when allowing people to spew false information in a public forum was frowned upon. That was before the ghouls at FOX News realized that there was a lot of money in telling people what they want to hear — truth be damned — first as wild speculation about where former President Barack Obama was born ran rampant, then later as lies about election fraud and Jan. 6 reared their ugly heads. The only thing that stopped FOX talking heads from claiming that Dominion voting machines were being manipulated in favor of Joe Biden’s election was Dominion suing FOX for defamation and winding up $787 million richer.
All of this, of course, brings us to The Pat McAfee Show, for which ESPN paid the hefty price tag of $85 million, only to have the mid-day sports romp turn into a litany of conspiracy theories and false information every Tuesday when Aaron Rodgers (who McAfee pays to be on the show) makes his weekly appearance. For a guy who ostensibly shows up to talk football, Rodgers has so far weighed in on wanting to debate Dr. Anthony Fauci over vaccines, hyped up anti-vaxxer and entirely serious presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, mocked Travis Kelce for advertising for Pfizer, and now has seemingly defamed late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
I wish I could say that the powers that be at ESPN, who recently canceled the highly-acclaimed show Outside the Lines, which showcased actual journalism, cared about all the anti-vaccine, anti-intellectual garbage Rodgers uses his platform on McAfee’s show to promote (without even the slightest pushback from McAfee), but that would be… wait for it… false information. Apparently, lying about a public health crisis that has killed almost 1.2 million Americans (many of whom, I would venture to guess, were ESPN viewers) is apparently just fine by ESPN. At the very least, they haven’t disavowed any of Rodgers’ comments publicly or issued any apologies for his falsehoods.
But ESPN may finally be forced to get involved in the mess of their own making, as yesterday Rodgers flat-out slandered late night’s Jimmy Kimmel by suggesting his name would be on the list of Jeffrey Epstein clients set to be released in the next few days.
That prompted Kimmel to respond on the cesspool known as X (formerly Twitter):
And lest you think people don’t take him seriously, Rodgers’ comments were quickly followed by brain-dead morons on X tweeting as if Kimmel being on the so-called Epstein Client List was a done deal:
And McAfee himself opened his show Wednesday claiming that A-Aron was “just trying to talk sh*t.”
The are a lot of things about Rodgers’ comments that are absolutely maddening: That he seemingly resorted to calling Kimmel a pedophile because he was upset by Kimmel mocking his anti-vaxx stance, the smug look on Rodgers’ face when he immediately got the reaction he wanted from McAfee and Ed McMahon stand-in AJ Hawk, the fact that no one on the show immediately called Rodgers out on stepping way over the line, that pedophilia is merely a punch line to Rodgers to use as a “gotcha,” rather than a life-altering trauma for Epstein’s victims. But perhaps the worst is that it’s been nearly 24 hours since Rodgers threw Kimmel under the bus and, as of the time of publication, ESPN has remained silent and refused to comment.
For as long as he’s been in the spotlight, Rodgers has been the easily led conspiracy theorist who is convinced he’s the smartest guy in the room. But he may have stepped in it this time, because his words sure seem to fit the definition of defamation, even with a higher burden of proof for Kimmel, as a public figure. To successfully sue Rodgers for defamation, Kimmel has to show that Rodgers acted with actual malice, which means that Rodgers accused Kimmel of being on the Epstein List knowing all along that it wasn’t true, or with reckless disregard as to whether it was true or not. Complicating matters is that both ESPN and ABC, which broadcast Kimmel’s show, are owned by Disney. And a meathead with an overinflated ego on one Disney show accusing a big-time late-night host on another Disney channel of being a pedophile seems like a bad thing for everyone at Disney.
And despite McAfee’s sleeve-inclusive apology on Rodgers’ behalf, please note that “just wanting to talk shit” is not, in anyway, a legal defense to defamation. And it actually might make Kimmel’s case stronger, as McAfee basically admits that Rodgers knew his statements were untrue but just wanted to take a shot at Kimmel.
If ESPN won’t take action against Rodgers, it’s not outside the realm of possibility for Disney Chief Bob Iger to get involved, as there are currently dozens, if not hundreds of devoted Rodgers followers on social media running with Rodgers’ claim that Kimmel was a known associate of the most notorious pedophile the US has ever prosecuted. Disney can’t be happy about that.
Because we’ve seen this show before, we know that Rodgers will lay low for a week, be back on McAfee’s show next week, and claim that his words were taken out of context and that the mainstream media twisted what he said. But like most everything else Rodgers says that’s not about football, that will be untrue. And you have to ask yourself why any team would invite this into their clubhouse.