ESPN’s Pat McAfee Apologizes After Aaron Rodgers’ Epstein Comments

Pat McAfee attends the Los Angeles Premiere Of Netflix's "Quarterback" at TUDUM Theater in Hollywood, Calif., on July 11, 2023. JC Olivera/Getty Images

ESPN host Pat McAfee has apologized to his listeners over footballer Aaron Rodgers’ insinuation that talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel could be on a rumored list of clients of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein who was also charged with sex trafficking.

The sports analyst said he could understand why Mr. Kimmel got so upset over the comment.

“Some things obviously people get very pissed off about, especially when they’re that serious allegations,” the host said. “So we apologize for being a part of it. I can’t wait to hear what Aaron has to say about it.”

Mr. Rodgers is a frequent guest on Mr. McAfee’s show.

It was during Tuesday’s Pat McAfee Show that Mr. Rodgers made the comment suggesting that Mr. Kimmel could be on an alleged list. Mr. Rodgers was discussing which names might have appeared during a 2017 civil lawsuit filed by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers. The court documents were released on Wednesday.

“There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, really hoping that doesn’t come out,” Mr. Rodgers said.

“I’ll tell you what: if that list comes out, I definitely will be popping some sort of bottle,” he added.

It was in December that a federal judge ordered that court documents containing the names of some of the associates of Epstein mentioned in testimony or depositions must be released in 2024. The documents come from the 2017 civil trial brought by Virginia Giuffre, who said Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell facilitated his sex trafficking of her.

Mr. Rodgers likely brought up Mr. Kimmel’s name in response to the late-night host mocking him last March for speculating about who might be named in an alleged list of Epstein clients. The Mr. Kimmel was seeming to indicate that believing there was such a list was a conspiracy theory.

During that particular segment of the Pat McAfee Show, Mr. Rodgers said, “Did you hear about the Epstein client list about to be released? There’s some files that have some names on it that might be getting released pretty soon.”

Kimmel played a clip of that interaction on his show, aiming it at Mr. Rodgers, saying “it might be time to revisit the concussion protocol, Aaron.” The comedian also called the New York Jets quarterback a “tin-foil hatter.”

Threats of Lawsuit

Regardless, on Tuesday, Mr. Kimmel was none too happy about the recent comment by Rodgers and expressed his outrage over X, formerly known as Twitter, by threatening to sue the quarterback.

“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. Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court,” he said.

McAfee Hopes the Two Can Talk It Out

Mr. McAfee said Wednesday that he hopes the two can talk things over after Mr. Kimmel’s response created a firestorm. He also noted that after the Rose Bowl game, he and his team were “rolling on two hours of sleep” going into Tuesday’s show, adding that the show is known for its banter and freewheeling nature.

“There could be some things that were certainly, probably—I mean, we’re gonna have to hear from Aaron on that—meant to be a [expletive] talk joke that can then become something that is obviously a very serious allegation, that then leads to a overnight story, one in which I put the baby down to sleep (I haven’t seen her in a while) then pick up my phone and ‘Oohhh Boy,’” McAfee said Wednesday during the opening of his program. “We obviously don’t like to be associated with anything negative ever.”

“We like our show to be an uplifting one, a happy one, a fun one, but it’s because we talk [expletive] and try to make light of everything,” he continued.

“Hopefully those two will just be able to settle this, you know, not work wise, but be able to chit chat and move along,” McAfee said, making it clear he was sympathetic to both men.

“I can understand why Jimmy got incredibly upset, yeah, I definitely completely understand that, especially with his position. But I think Aaron is like, ‘Hey, this guy has said some stuff about me in his monologue and he’s just trying to [expletive] talk,” Mr. McAfee said. “I don’t think he meant anything else but he’s gonna have to clarify that for us.”