Why Aaron? Why do you have to be like this?
You won the only fun game of The Weekend of the COVID Return, and an Arizona Cardinals loss to your division rival Detroit Lions has put the Green Bay Packers in first place in the NFC. You’re considered a favorite to win the MVP, which would be your second in a row after the Packers drafted your replacement. All of this and you actually take the time to go on an irreverent podcast every week and not speak quarterback, but actually speak like a human being. Rodgers, why must you actively make yourself unlikeable.
On this week’s Tuesday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers was wearing one of Barstool Sports’ cancel culture hoodies. Rodgers told McAfee that Barstool founder Dave Portnoy sent the hoodie to him personally. Come on man. Rodgers, do you have any idea how offensive it is to wear a cancel culture hoodie branded by Barstool?
You being intentionally dishonest with the public about your vaccine status is and then spreading misinformation about COVID is bad enough.
Recall his statement then:
“I realize I’m in the crosshairs of the woke mob right now so before my final nail gets put in my cancel culture casket, I’d like to set the record straight.”
Now you’re wearing a hoodie from a company that’s had problems with racism, misogyny, and went scorched earth in trying to stop employees from unionizing. The head of the company who sent you that hoodie was recently accused of some disturbing acts of sexual misconduct — Portnoy has denied that misconduct occured.
The fact that Barstool even made that hoodie is offensive. All the problems that they’ve had over the years and they make clothing that mock those problems. They don’t care if they’ve done wrong, they cannot be silenced and want to rub everyone’s nose in it.
That’s what that shirt represents Rodgers, not free speech. Even McAfee distanced himself a little bit from Portnoy when Rodgers suggested that Portnoy is a fan of the show. They then went on to have a fun conversation about Rodgers breaking the Packers touchdown record, why he’s so diligent about not turning the ball over, that final touchdown pass on Sunday to Marquez Valdez-Scantling, and Rodgers even got in a good jab at McAfee. Rodgers said that the host of the program speaks three languages, English, Pittsburghese, and prick.
I’ve liked Rodgers for most of his career. I thought he was the best quarterback I’d ever seen until Patrick Mahomes started throwing no-looks. Rodgers’ interviews were usually good; the profile Mina Kimes did on him for ESPN was great — although I don’t believe the title, “Aaron Rodgers Unmasked,” aged very well.
He was a fun superstar and now he is going Barstool on us. He’s propping up this “cancel culture” myth like Louis C.K. didn’t have a commercial for his new stand up special during Saturday Night Live, and there isn’t a giant electronic billboard for it on the 110 in Los Angeles.
It’s as fun as it ever was watching Rodgers play football, but as a person he becomes less fun almost by the day. It turns out that he’s more the guy that was upset about a puff piece done on him by 60 Minutes, than this deep, interesting thinker who spent time with the Dalai Lama. The people who have a problem with what you’ve said and done in recent months, Aaron, it has nothing to do with them wanting you to be silenced for having a counter-cultural opinion. What you said about vaccines and COVID prevention was not-factual and you even admitted that the NFL treated your research like it was nonsense. Who are we supposed to trust, the multi-billion dollar, ultra-conservative, business that wants its game played with no interruption, or the free-thinking quarterback who ingested horse dewormer?
It doesn’t have to be like this Aaron. We could just laugh at your stories on McAfee’s show and learn more about your thought process while you play. Instead we learned about your thought process, and personally, I wish I knew a lot less about it.