Future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ glory-filled resume includes a Super Bowl title and four MVP awards, making him one of football’s greatest players.
Yet, at this very moment, the Canton-bound QB might be just as well known for an off-the-rails feud with comic Jimmy Kimmel, ayahuasca trips, “isolation” retreats and the livestock dewormer ivermectin.
It’s been a wild ride for the Berkeley-educated 40-year-old whose career and public persona have been grist for both the back and front pages.
April 23, 2005: After two spectacular college seasons, the Cal QB inexplicably fell to the 24th overall pick of the NFL Draft, much to the Green Bay Packers’ benefit. To make matters worse, the San Francisco 49ers passed on him and Rodgers correctly predicted that his hometown team would come to regret it.
Feb. 6, 2011: The Super Bowl MVP Rodgers brought the Lombardi Trophy back to Titletown with a 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Nov. 4, 2012: Despite being one the game’s greatest players, it’s been long believed that Rodgers could be oddly defensive on mundane issues, such as his height. In a “60 Minutes” profile, he told a fan, “I don’t appreciate that” when asked whether he’s really 6-foot-2.
Summer 2016: In Season 12 of ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” Jordan Rodgers, a former Vanderbilt University QB, opened up to eventual bride JoJo Fletcher about the family’s on-again, off-again relationship with brother Aaron. The story arc triggered years of coverage about the family’s strained ties with Aaron — though there have been movements toward reconciliation in recent years.
April 5, 2021: Rodgers had once been hailed as a renaissance man with widely varied interests, such as his love of the game show “Jeopardy!” And with a degree of begrudging good humor, the guest-host Rodgers absorbed a contestant’s trolling Final Jeopardy question in the wake of a much-maligned action by Packers coach Matt LaFleur a year earlier.
Aug. 26, 2021: A reporter asked Rodgers if he had been vaccinated against Covid-19 and he answered in the affirmative: “Yeah, I’ve been immunized.”
Nov. 5, 2021: Rodgers insisted he’s not “some sort of anti-vax flat-Earther” while also admitting to taking ivermectin — a livestock dewormer that some fringe doctors have alleged, without evidence, can treat Covid-19. Rodgers thanked podcast host Joe Rogan, who said he took ivermectin when he had Covid in 2021, for all his advice.
Nov. 9, 2021: He offered up a quasi-apology for not admitting, straight up, that he had not been vaccinated. “I made some comments that people might have felt were misleading, and to anybody who felt misled by those comments, I take full responsibility for those comments,” Rodgers told “The Pat McAfee Show.”
Feb. 10, 2022: He won his fourth NFL MVP award, a feat only surpassed by five-time winner Peyton Manning. Rodgers had previously won the award for his work in the 2011, 2014 and 2020 seasons.
Aug. 8, 2022: He told Peter King of NBC Sports that taking the hallucinogen ayahuasca on trips to Peru changed his life for the better: “I think it’s unlocked a lot of my heart. Being able to fully give my heart to my teammates, my loved ones, relationships, because I can fully embrace unconditionally myself. Just didn’t do that for a long time.”
Feb. 7, 2023: Before signing with the New York Jets, Rodgers said he needed to clear his mind with a darkened, four-night “isolation retreat,” the QB told McAfee.
Sept. 11, 2023: He suffered a season-ending leg injury in his first game with the New York Jets.
Jan. 2, 2024: Rodgers made a completely unfounded claim that Jimmy Kimmel’s name might be included in court documents related to accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Kimmel lashed back, saying such lies, even if meant as jokes, have real-word impact: “A lot of delusional people honestly believe I am meeting up with Tom Hanks and Oprah at Shakey’s once a week to eat pizza and drink the blood of children.”
Tuesday: Rodgers refused to apologize for linking Kimmel to Epstein.
Wednesday: McAfee announced that Rodgers would no longer appear on his show for at least the rest of this football season. The freewheeling, controversy-courting host said even he had grown tired of Rodgers’ act: “There are going to be a lot of people that are happy with that [Rodgers off the show], myself included, to be honest.”
Thursday: And one day later, he was back on McAfee’s show, though not under the “Aaron Rodgers Tuesday” banner
