They say when you’re in a hole you should stop digging. Apparently, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers hasn’t heard that one. Or he’s done his own “research” on how to get out of a hole.
Rodgers was on his weekly guest spot on “The Pat McAfee Show” Friday, Nov. 5, to discuss contracting the COVID-19 virus, missing this Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs, and lying about his vaccination status.
Or rather, his immunization status.
The NFL has separate policies for vaccinated and unvaccinated players. The Packers have allowed Rodgers to operate as though he was vaccinated, including, but not limited to, attending news conferences without wearing a mask.
Rodgers was asked specifically if he was vaccinated in August during training camp. Here is his response.
Here’s the video on August 26th when Aaron Rodgers was directly asked if he had been vaccinated pic.twitter.com/kskQDRpWi8
— Chancellor Johnson (@ChancellorTV) November 3, 2021
Come on now, Aaron. That’s a clever little trick you played there saying, “Yeah, I’ve been immunized.” That did not answer the question.
It would be like if someone asked you, “Hey, are you hungry?” and you responded, “I had breakfast.” Related. But it doesn’t answer the direct question as to your current hunger status.
In hindsight, Rodgers’ use of the word “immunized” and his follow-up comments at training camp should have made media members way more curious.
“You know, there’s a lot of conversation around it, around the league, and a lot of guys who have made statements and not made statements, owners who have made statements,” Rodgers said then. “There’s guys on the team that haven’t been vaccinated. I think it’s a personal decision. I’m not going to judge those guys. There are guys that’ve been vaccinated that have contracted COVID. It’s an interesting issue that I think we’re going to see played out the entire season.”
Sounds like a whole lot of nothing. A common trait when someone is lying or concealing information is for the individual doing the lying to say a lot of things in order to obfuscate the listener.
Since Rodgers’ positive test this week, he’s become the center of a firestorm of his own making. He is unvaccinated, the Packers knew he was unvaccinated, and they allowed him to skirt the NFL protocols for unvaccinated players.
That brings us to his appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” where Rodgers admits the Packers knew.
But in an attempt to play the victim, Rodgers said that media members have known all along he wasn’t vaccinated and are only making it a controversy now because they are a part of some “woke mob” or “cancel culture.”
"The organization & my teammates knew exactly what my status was.. there was nothing that was hidden. I have followed every single protocol & a lot of the protocols aren't based on science at all" ~@AaronRodgers12#PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/AZ6kjBrBvc
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 5, 2021
The “woke mob” and “cancel culture,” wow! Those are the buzzwords that speak to a specific segment of the country. You know, the ones who constantly talk about personal freedom at the expense of others.
Rodgers was indignant in his interview because he actually believes he’s being wronged somehow. He actually thinks this is a miscarriage of justice. So much so that he misquoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
HE READING THE GODDAMN QUOTE FJEIAOREPOIARPEPWARJPEWAPRJEWPARPAWJPR pic.twitter.com/Th3MZ5Av1i
— David Dennis Jr. (@DavidDTSS) November 5, 2021
That’s not what King said, Aaron, and context matters.
The misquote from Rodgers comes from King’s “Letter From A Birmingham Jail,” an open letter to King’s fellow clergymen in 1963.
In response to clergymen’s assertions that demonstrations could be illegal, King argued that civil disobedience was not only justified in the face of unjust laws but also was necessary and even patriotic. From King in “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”:
The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”
King was talking about laws enacted by the United States government in the Jim Crow South. Laws that punished Black and Brown bodies severely. Nowhere did he say anything about “rules that don’t make sense.”
This move by Rodgers is common among certain types, usually conservatives, that want to justify their actions.
Misquote the great civil rights leader, who it should be noted was the most hated man in America at the time of his death, and liken whatever nonsensical “struggle” they are experiencing with the plight of Black people.
You’re telling on yourself, Aaron.
Rodgers’ interview is a lot of nonsense about conducting his own research and the politicization of health. The latter is true. COVID-19 has become a political issue, started by the party that aubscribes to many of the things Rodgers said in the interview.
His claim about doing his own research is another interesting point to note.
Rodgers thinks he’s very smart, and he may well be. But he doesn’t have any training or degrees in scientific research, infectious disease, or immunology. Funny, he thinks that his “research” should be valued above those that have spent their lives learning, studying and researching in those fields.
It would be like if a media member who never played NFL quarterback questioned his decision-making on the field. He would certainly have no problem with that …
For what it’s worth Rodgers wants us to know, he’s not some “anti-vaxx, flat-earther…”
"I'm not an anti-vaxx, flat-earther.. I have an allergy to an ingredient that's in the mRNA vaccines. I found a long term immunization protocol to protect myself & I'm very proud of the research that went into that" ~@AaronRodgers12#PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/FDMmI5rZmO
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 5, 2021
The “flat-earther” reference is a not-so-subtle shot at Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who has not been with the team so far this NBA season due to his unvaccinated status.
Kyrie Irving Banned From Team Practice And Play | The Vaccine Faceoff Just Got Real
Like Rodgers, Kyrie fancies himself a free, critically thinking individual.
They are similar in that they are multi-millionaire athletes who want to do what they want free from repercussions.
They also believe themselves to possess a level of knowledge, in a field they have no education in, greater than those that have spent a lifetime learning. It’s truly the height of narcissism and arrogance.
But here is where they differ.
While both are severely misguided and don’t understand the first thing about basic science, only one of them had the courage of conviction to stand behind his beliefs.
Kyrie never lied or tried to hide his vaccination status. Rodgers did, and now he’s trying to dig himself out of a hole.
