ESPN has paid $85m to air Aaron Rodgers’s conspiracy theories

The broadcaster has given the quarterback free rein to spread misinformation on the Pat McAfee Show. And now he is taking aim at the network itself

Just as when he drops back to pass, Aaron Rodgers scans the world around him and sees enemies everywhere. Over the past four years, The Pat McAfee Show, a streaming sensation that's recently found a home on ESPN, has provided a forum for the New York Jets quarterback to settle scores and single out other targets for offense - not least his grudge against Jimmy Kimmel.

Rodgers's three-year-old feud with Kimmel - which began with the talkshow host slamming Rodgers, a stubborn vaccine skeptic, after he tested positive for Covid - reached a troubling inflection point last week when Rodgers appeared on McAfee's show and implied the comedian was nervous" about being linked to Jeffrey Epstein. The quarterback pledged to pop a bottle of something" if Kimmel's name surfaced in the recent release of documents related to the disgraced financier.