This is not revelatory, but Aaron Rodgers has had far greater influence off the field this football season than on it. That calculus was largely calcified the moment the now 40-year-old Jets quarterback went down in the first quarter of the first game of the year with a torn ACL, setting in motion one of the more disappointing Jets’ seasons in a catalogue filled with heart ache. Since that singular moment, Rodgers has remained relevant, sometimes painfully, through a confluence of media appearances and analysis and the ongoing conjecture of whether he might return this season in some kind of Willis Reed meets the Meadowlands kind of moment. And much of this has been fueled by a local and national media that couldn’t help themselves but cover his movement like he’s the Secretary of State.
That said, little has garnered more attention than Rodgers’ comments last week on ESPN’s Pat McAfee show. For the unaware, McAfee is one of the network’s fastest rising and most prominent personalities, and his simulcasted podcast lives in the kind of rarified air that keeps the network relevant. On his show, where Rodgers is a regular and paid guest, Aaron said, “there’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, really hoping that [Jeffrey Epstein list] doesn’t come out.” Let’s leave aside how or why Aaron Rodgers is talking about Jeffrey Epstein – this singular comment became a spark that nearly burned down McAfee’s entire show – and still might.
For starters and not surprisingly, Jimmy Kimmel didn’t take kindly to the remarks, which may or may not have been an attempt at comedy. Kimmel, who works for the same parent company Disney, posted not only that it was a clear lie, but also that Rodgers is an idiot who is putting Kimmel’s family in danger. Rodgers did what Rodgers is inclined to do, which is offer a bizarre explanation instead of an apology and spend several minutes branding himself as some kind of modern day martyr. That is classic Aaron Rodgers – speak with brazen authority and always play the victim.
Making this whole thing more complicated is that Pat McAfee – and full disclosure, I think he is amazing on ESPN’s College Game Day – used this very moment to lash out on his show at one of ESPN’s senior executives, accusing Executive Editor Norby Williamson of personally trying to sabotage his show. And this came in the backdrop of McAfee apologizing for Rodger’s comments, which kind of got lost in chaotic infighting. Which all then culminated today in McAfee announcing that Rodgers would no longer be a guest on the show, which may or may not be seen as a win for Disney brass. In case you need some context of why this all matters so much, McAfee gets around $17 million a year to put his show on ESPN in a contract worth over $80 million.
There’s a whole lot to unpack here – from the destructive infighting at ESPN to the challenge of massive media conglomerates to the issue of having a star quarterback slander a public figure. But one thru line across this whole mess is that the increasingly upside-down world of media creation and distribution, one where corporate org charts are upended by non-traditional delivery systems, have made it nearly impossible to know who’s in charge. Which is why Pat McAfee, who in a previous generation would be looking for a new job, is still largely in the driver’s seat, especially with YouTube and other social platforms offering more than enough bandwidth to generate revenue and audience. And the decision to let go of Aaron Rodgers was likely as much to preserve his own brand as it was to please any higher up.
And on that point, the fact that Aaron Rodgers can command a loyal audience for often crackpot conspiracy theories while he’s sidelined from the one thing he’s actually good at is a testament to both the power of sport and the ease of reaching a willing public. Whether he eventually meets the same fate as NBA star Kyrie Irving, who among other things floated flat earth theories and anti-Semitic tropes, remains to be seen. But the fact that anyone is still listening to Aaron Rodgers at this point, who’s proven to be one of the least likable legendary quarterbacks in recent memory, is as telling as it is confounding.
Of course, we may have a harder time listening to Aaron Rodgers in the near future, at least on ESPN. Which hopefully will bring his influence off the field back down to his abysmal impact currently on it.
Keith Strudler is the director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him at @KeithStrudler
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.