Jimmy Kimmel took aim at Aaron Rodgers in a scathing, seven-minute monologue during Monday’s episode of his eponymous talk show, after the NFL player baselessly implied that Kimmel was on the Epstein list.
Kimmel, 56, began 2024’s first episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday (8 January) by addressing comments Rodgers, 40, made about the list of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s clients during an episodeThe Pat McAfee show on ESPN.
Bill Clinton, Richard Branson, and Prince Andrew are among 100 people named in newly-unsealed court documents linked to the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in a New York jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. All vigorously deny any wrongdoing.
During an episode of sports analyst Pat McAfee’s show, aired before the names were made public, Rodgers said “there’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel” who will be hoping the list isn’t published, adding he will be “popping some sort of bottle” when it was released.
Kimmel threatened to sue Rodgers for his “reckless words”, while “denying any contact whatsoever” with Epstein, in a statement shared on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Kimmel’s name was not mentioned within hundreds of pages of unsealed court documents pertaining to Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre’s defamation lawsuit against his fixer and convicted trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
The Emmy-winning late-night host began Monday night’s episode of his show by addressing the feud between him and Rodgers, describing the footballer as a “hamster brain man” with a “Thankgsiving Day parade-sized ego” who “thinks he knows what the government is up to because he’s a quarterback doing research on YouTube and listening to podcasts”.
Kimmel described Rodgers as a ‘hamster brain man’ with a ‘Thankgsiving Day parade-sized ego’— (Jimmy Kimmel Live)
“I don’t know Jeffrey Epstein. I’ve never met Jeffrey Epstein. I was not on a list, or a plane, or an island or anything ever,” Kimmel began. “I suggested that if Aaron wanted to make false and very damaging statements like that, that we should do it in court so he could share his proof with, like, a judge.
“Because when you hear a guy who won a Super Bowl and did all the State Farm commercials say something like this, a lot of people believe him. A lot of delusional people honestly believe that I am meeting up with Tom Hanks and Oprah at Shakey’s once a week to eat pizza and drink the blood of children,” he finished.
Kimmel suggested Rodgers never actually believed his name would be on Epstein’s client list, speculating he was simply retaliating to Kimmel mocking him as a “tin foil hatter” for his remarks about UFOs during an earlier episode of his show.
“Let me show you the moment that so badly bruised Aaron’s Thanskgiving Day parade-sized ego,” Kimmel said, before replaying the clip from an episode which was aired last February.
He speculated that Rodgers suffered from something known as the Dunning-Kruger effect – “a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities”.
“Aaron Rodgers has a very high opinion of himself, because he had success on the football field, he believes himself to be an extraordinary being,” Kimmel said. “He genuinely thinks that because God gave him the ability to throw a ball, he’s smarter than everyone else. The idea that his brain is just average is unfathomable to him. We learned during Covid somehow he knows more about science than scientists.”
Clarifying that he’s not “one of those people who thinks athletes and members of the sports media should stick to talking about sports,” he maintained that Rodgers “has the right to express any opinion he wants to but saying someone is a pedophile is not an opinion, nor is it trash talk”.
Kimmel acknowleged that while he “says things about people all the time” on his show, “we don’t make up lies”.
“We have a team of people who work very hard to sift through facts and reputable sources before I make a joke and that’s an important distinction,” he added.
When he does get things wrong, Kimmel continued, he apologises for it.
“Which is what Aaron Rodgers should do. Which is what a decent person would do,” the comedian said. “But I bet he won’t. If he does, you know what I’ll do, I’ll accept his apology and move on. But he probably won’t do that.”
The Independent has contacted Rodgers’ representatives for comment.
McAfee addressed his “serious allegations” against Kimmel in a subsequent episode of his sports show, while apologising for “being a part” of the feud between them.
Regarding Rodgers’s remarks, McAfee said on 3 January: “Some things obviously people get very pissed off about, especially when they’re that serious allegations.
“We apologise for being a part of it. I can’t wait to hear what Aaron has to say about it. Hopefully those two will just be able to settle this – not court-wise – but be able to chit chat and move along.”
