Sports talk show host Pat McAfee announced on Wednesday that Aaron Rodgers won’t be back on his show for the rest of the season.
However, the move may not be permanent since McAfee said during Wednesday’s show that “‘Aaron Rodgers Tuesday’ Season 4 is done,” seemingly implying that the NFL quarterback and COVID conspiracy theorist could return next season.
“There will be a lot of people who are happy with that, myself included. The way it ended, it got real loud,” McAfee added.
The announcement came one day after Rodgers appeared on the show to offer a non-apology to late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for remarks some interpreted as him seemingly linking the comedian to Jeffrey Epstein and the released list of the sex offender’s associates.
“There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, who are really hoping that [Epstein list] doesn’t come out,” Rodgers said on Tuesday’s show before adding, “I’ll tell you what, if that list comes out, I will definitely be popping some sort of bottle.”
Then the New York Jets player went on to also spread more misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.
Rodgers’ appearances on McAfee’s show raised the sports talk show host’s profile enough that he got an $85 million licensing deal with ESPN. However, McAfee admitted on Wednesday he is happy he no longer has to deal with the controversy that the QB brought along with him.
“Aaron Rodgers is a Hall of Famer, he is a four-time MVP, he is a massive part of the NFL story whenever you go back and tell it,” McAfee said. “We are very lucky to get a chance to chat with him and learn from him. Some of his thoughts and opinions, though, do piss off a lot of people.”
After routinely dealing with the backlash, McAfee said, he is “pumped that that is no longer going to be every single Wednesday of my life.”
You can see the announcement below.
McAfee posted on X (formerly Twitter) later Wednesday that Rodgers’ appearances on the show had typically been only during the football season, and he insisted he “never said he’ll never be on the show again. I hope he chooses to still chat with us.”
But he admitted he’s looking forward to focusing on sports.
“I certainly don’t love that I’ve found myself in political wars and public beefs because of something that a guest has said on our show or something that my dumbass has said,” McAfee wrote, adding one thing he’s “come to realize is that it’s gonna come with the territory of this venture.”