NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers denied he implied comic Jimmy Kimmel was a pedophile and condemned those who do, but he stopped short of apologizing for his role in escalating their burgeoning feud.
Rodgers returned to ESPN's 鈥淭he Pat McAfee Show鈥 on Tuesday for his weekly appearance and addressed comments he made the week before that appeared to suggest Kimmel's name might appear on a , a millionaire accused of sex trafficking involving underage victims before he died by suicide.
鈥淎ny type of name calling is ridiculous and I'm not calling him (a pedophile), and neither should you,鈥 Rodgers said on the show Tuesday.
The feud between ABC's late-night star and Rodgers, who regularly appears on the daily ESPN show, has proven embarrassing for The Walt Disney Co., the parent company to both television networks.
Rodgers criticized Mike Foss, an ESPN executive who oversees McAfee's show, for saying that Rodgers had made 鈥渁 dumb and factually inaccurate joke鈥 about Kimmel.
鈥淢ike, you鈥檙e not helping,鈥 Rodgers said. "You鈥檙e not helping because I just read earlier exactly what I said. This is the game plan of the media and this is what they do: They try to cancel, you know, and it鈥檚 not just me.鈥
Rodgers last week said a lot of people, 鈥渋ncluding Jimmy Kimmel,鈥 are really hoping that a list of Epstein's associates doesn't come out publicly. Kimmel, who has denied any association with Epstein, threatened Rodgers with a lawsuit for the comment and said the NFL star was putting his family in danger.
Rodgers suggested that people were reading too much into what he said, that he was not stupid enough to accuse Kimmel of being a pedophile.
Kimmel made the first appearance of the year Monday on his late-night show and laced into Rodgers. He said he would accept an apology from Rodgers but didn't expect one.
鈥淎 decent person would apologize,鈥 Kimmel said. 鈥淏ut he probably won't.鈥
Kimmel called Rodgers 鈥渉amster-brained鈥 and said that he got two A鈥檚 on his report card 鈥 鈥渢hey鈥檙e both in the name Aaron.鈥
鈥淚t might be time to revisit that concussion profile, Aaron,鈥 Kimmel said.
Before addressing his specific comments, Rodgers had a lengthy preamble about his grudges against Kimmel, including jokes the comic has made about the quarterback's anti-COVID-19 vaccination comments.
Even after that, he said he didn't care what Kimmel said about him, 鈥渂ut as long as he understands what I actually said and that I'm not accusing him of being on a list ... I'm all for moving forward.鈥
