“I think in general, I’d like to present myself how I see myself, unapologetically authentic. And, like me or don’t like me, it’s not my concern at this point. My concern is just speaking the truth,” Aaron Rodgers said during the Monday (Aug. 8) episode of Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast. Aaron, 38, then mocked the drama – “‘oooh, immunization, vaccination!'” – over his decision not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The podcast’s hosts — Eric “PFT Commenter” Sollenberger and Dan “Big Cat” Katz — tried to get in on the fun, but found themselves in an awkward situation. “How many people do you think you killed? What’s your count?” asked PFT Commenter. “How many grandmothers?” added Big Cat. “Let’s just do grandmothers.”
Clip been smoking me all morning pic.twitter.com/rji7psIu3x
— kyle (@knicks_tape99) August 8, 2022
“I mean, I know you guys are f-cking around, but I don’t find that part funny. I really don’t,” said Aaron. Dan Katz muttered, “Oh Sh-t,” and shifted the conversation. “It actually is one of my favorite things I was able to do off of that whole immunization thing is tweet that you should be in jail. I would have people who’d get the joke, and then there would be like a ton of people who’d be like, ‘Oh, you like — you think COVID is so real, he should be in jail.’ And it was just, my mentions would just be a mess!” Aaron then joked, “And probably a lot of people said, ‘F-ck, yeah, put him in jail — Get that liar in jail.'”
In August 2021, Aaron told reporters he had been “immunized,” but that came under scrutiny months later after he had texted positive for COVID-19. Rodgers was fined $14,650 for breaking the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols, and his team, the Green Bay Packers, was also fined $300,000.
In November 2021, Aaron went on The Pat McAfee Show and said that his statement “wasn’t some sort of ruse or lie, it was the truth.” He said he wasn’t an “anti-vax flat-Earther,” but that he “march[es] to the beat of my own drum.” Aaron also claimed that he was allergic to an ingredient in mRNA vaccines, so he pursued an alternative “immunization protocol.” Rodgers didn’t disclose which ingredient he was allergic to.
“I consulted with a now good friend of mine, Joe Rogan, after he got Covid, and I’ve been doing a lot of stuff that he recommended,” Rodgers said on that November episode of The Pat McAfee Show. Rodgers, like Rogan, said he was using ivermectin, a drug generally used to deworm animals. The FDA has not approved using the drug, and stated that “currently available data do not show ivermectin is effective against COVID-19: and that “clinical trials assessing ivermectin tablets for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 in people are ongoing.”