Aaron Rodgers isn’t backing down.
One week after the Jets quarterback railed on ESPN and said it wasn’t what it used to be, Rodgers defended himself on the network after ex-NFLer and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark called out the signal-caller for being a “fraud.”
Rodgers, last week, said on “The Pat McAfee Show” — which is simulcast on ESPN — that the sports network of today is not the same as it was over a decade ago, calling a lot of what is on ESPN “asinine.”
“Now it’s all talk shows and people whose opinions are so important now and they believe they’re the celebrities now, they’re the stars for just being able to talk about sports or give a take about sports, many of which are unfounded or asinine, as we all know. But that’s the environment we’re in now,” Rodgers said.
Well, that didn’t sit well with Clark, who appeared on ESPN’s top opinion show, “First Take,” on Friday and called Rodgers a “fraud.”
“The reason you’re getting the opportunity to say these asinine things is because someone is paying you— exactly like the people you’re calling out,” Clark said. “This dude is a fraud. He’s been a fraud. He acts like he’s above everybody and everything.”
Rodgers, doing his weekly hit with the ex-NFL punter McAfee on Tuesday, said anyone who criticizes him should at least give their “vax status” — though he stopped short of calling out Clark by name in his soliloquy.
“Say whatever the f–k you want about me, I don’t care,” Rodgers said. “But just before you do it, whether you state your name, your accolades, pronouns, whatever it is, just state your vax status so that anything you say afterwards gets put in the right light. Just get it out there. ‘Cause then when you say things about me, people can at least be like, ‘Oh, you are captured by the multimillion-dollar propaganda PSYOP and you’re still upset about it.’ Just put that out there just so everybody knows where you’re coming from. Everybody knows, ‘OK, cool, you’re twice vaxxed Moderna with three booster shots’ and then say what you want to say, whatever.
“I don’t care. I’m just saying a PSA, just please help everybody out who’s wondering, ‘Where is this coming from?’ Including myself, where the f–k is this coming from? But just give a little PSA.”
Rodgers, without saying Clark’s name, did appear to reference the former defensive back when he later said: “So just put it out there on your bio on your shows or whatever, you don’t just need a broach with your initials. Put your vax status on there too.”
Clark, during his “First Take” appearance on Friday, wore a pin on his jacket that said “RC.”
Rodgers echoed things he said last fall when he said his critics who are vaccinated against COVID-19 should disclose their vax status to make sure people can “frame all these comments in the right window.”
During an interview with Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” crew last December, analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick followed Rodgers’ request in a humorous way.
“Hey Aaron, Ryan Fitzpatrick, class of 2005. How are you? Twice Vaccinated,” the ex-NFL QB said.
After Rodgers’ appearance on “PMS” on Tuesday, Clark took to social media to respond.
“Man, I wish @PatMcAfeeShow would’ve let him keep going! It just got good. I don’t know about the Vax stuff, but shoot he almost put a name on it. It’s a lapel pin BTW!!” Clark wrote on X in response to the broach comment.
In a follow-up post, Clark added he was “not too concerned with Aaron.”
