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Aaron Rodgers’s weekly appearances on The Pat McAfee Show are “done” for a few weeks, McAfee announced at the start of Wednesday’s show.
The move comes after the New York Jets quarterback’s appearance on last week’s show — in which Rodgers insinuated Jimmy Kimmel could be associated with deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — opened a “can of worms” within Disney, the parent company of ESPN and ABC. Kimmel threatened the possibility of a lawsuit after Rodgers’s comments last week and called Rodgers a “hamster-brained man” when his ABC late-night show returned from break on Monday.
“There could be a lot of people that are happy with [Rodgers not appearing on PMS], myself included, to be honest with you—the way it ended, it got real loud,” McAfee said on Wednesday. “I’m happy that that is not gonna be my [social media] mentions going forward, which is great news. … I’m pumped that this is no longer gonna be every single Wednesday of my life, which it has been for the last few weeks.
“We’ve messed up in that particular aspect, and by ‘we,’ I mean, we’re a conversation show, people are having conversations, we live in a country that has freedom of speech, but also you’re gonna have to deal with the consequences of your freedom of speech.”
McAfee wasn’t specific on when Rodgers who has appeared on the show for years—could return.
“Our fans know that [Rodgers’ segment] ends shortly after Aaron’s team’s season ends,” McAfee posted on X (formerly Twitter). “That’s how it’s been. He’ll make random surprise welcomed pop ins during big events or offseason adventures but, it’s always been a season thing. I never said he’ll never be on the show again. I hope he chooses to still chat with us.”
That wasn’t the case after Rodgers’ final season with the Packers last year. His last game with the Packers—where he won a Super Bowl and four MVPs in his 18 seasons in Green Bay—was played on Jan. 8, 2023. Rodgers then appeared on PMS on Jan. 17, Jan. 24, Jan. 31, Feb. 7, and Feb. 14 before he was off the show for about a month.
ESPN has “no clarity” on when Rodgers could return to PMS, a source told Front Office Sports. The source confirmed that the decision was made by McAfee.
McAfee signed a five-year deal worth $15 million annually with ESPN, a licensing deal that put PMS on ESPN and the network’s other platforms.
“I negotiated my own deal here,” McAfee said Wednesday. “I’m running my show. I keep my creative rights.”
But McAfee didn’t step back from his comments on Friday’s show, when he said ESPN executive Norby Williamson was a “rat” who was “attempting to sabotage” PMS.
“Obviously, I threw us in the fire as well,” McAfee said. “Forever stand by that. Everything else though, we can’t do that, and that’s not what I want to be known for.”
Kimmel asked for an apology on Monday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, but Rodgers failed to give one on his Tuesday appearance.
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