Aaron Rodgers Does a Full Anti-Vaxx Bingo in One Interview, Hits Everything From Joe Rogan Medical Advice to “My Body, My Choice”

Last week, it was revealed that NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers had not received the COVID-19 vaccine, despite having previously told reporters he was “immunized” against the virus.

As you can see, Rodgers wasn’t wearing a mask during that press conference, which seems to be just one of the NFL’s rules for unvaccinated players that Rodgers broke. Rodgers, who plays for the Green Bay Packers, tested positive for COVID-19 last week and was forced to isolate, had to miss Sunday’s game against Kansas City, and has faced massive public backlash for what appear to be bald-faced lies about his vaccination status.

Now Rodgers has addressed the controversy in a truly terrible interview on The Pat McAfee Show, a sports talk show that Rodgers regularly appears on as a guest. Rodgers, who recently served as a guest host on Jeopardy! and was reportedly being considered for the role as permanent host before that entire ordeal spiraled out in its own set of flames, touched on pretty much every awful, stereotypical anti-vaxx talking point possible during the interview.

“I realize I’m in the crosshairs of the woke mob right now,” he said, hitting a number of right-wing/libertarian bingo squares right out of the gate. “So, before my final nail gets put in my cancel culture casket, I think I would like to set the record straight on so many of the blatant lies that are out there about myself.”

Here are just a few more highlights:

—He says he thinks the NFL’s daily COVID testing for unvaccinated players is designed to “shame the unvaccinated” and said he didn’t want to be “shamed” into wearing a mask.

—He co-opted the language of reproductive rights advocates, asking “What about my body, my choice? What about making the best decision for my circumstance?”

—He co-opted Martin Luther King, Jr! “The great MLK said that ‘You have a moral obligation to object to unjust rules and rules that make no sense,’” he told McAfee.

—He consulted Joe Rogan for medical advice. After following the regimen laid out by Rogan on his podcast, Rodgers says he’s “going to have the best immunity possible now.”

“I’m thankful for people like Joe stepping up and using his voice,” Rodgers said. “I’m thankful for my medical squad and I’m thankful for all the love and support I’ve gotten but I’ve been taking monoclonal antibodies, ivermectin, zinc, vitamin C and DHCQ and I feel pretty incredible.”

As for that “medical squad,” Rodgers claims he spoke with numerous NFL doctors, one of whom told him “it is impossible for a vaccinated person to get Covid or spread Covid.” According to CNN, an NFL league source told the network “no doctor from the league or the joint NFL-NFLPA infectious disease consultants communicated with the player.”

Meanwhile, Rodgers’ fiancee, actress Shailene Woodley (congratulations if you’re just now learning about that union) slammed “the media” on Instagram for covering her very obvious subgramming of the ordeal.

Last week, Woodley shared an image of a woman rising out of waves with the words, “Calm Seas May Bring You Peace, But Storms Are Where You’ll Find Your Power” written out. The image was shared to her Instagram stories, which automatically delete after 24 hours. It looks like some outlet might have written that Woodley deleted her “cryptic” message because she posted another story saying as much.

“Just read somewhere that the media is claiming I deleted an Insta story amid the ‘chaos.’ (An astrology post of all things) (not cryptic at all you dummies.)” Woodley wrote, weirdly seeming to reference a different, astrology-based post she reportedly put up around the same time. “Do you even know how stories work brah? They self-delete after 24 hours. Literally lol’ing over here over your determination to make a story out of nothing. Grasping at straws my dears.”

It is very strange that Woodley would suggest “the media”—as if that is one singular entity—is essentially out to get her based on something she “read somewhere.” That sort of language is barely a half-step away from Rodgers’ “cancel culture” rhetoric.

Woodley, for her part, has been skirting the anti-vax subject for years, saying in a 2013 interview, “I make my own medicines; I don’t get those from doctors.”

Plenty of people have been blaming the famously crunchy Woodley for Rodgers’ anti-vax status as if he’s not a grown man making his own decisions. Obviously, he’s the only person responsible for those choices. At the same time, neither of these two is helping themselves in any way.

Rodgers says he has an “allergy” to one of the ingredients in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which, if true, is totally valid. A very, very small number of people can have adverse reactions to the vaccines, as is the case with all medicines. What’s not valid is Rodgers’ failure to acknowledge the severity of the virus and the fact that he knowingly put a whole lot of people at risk with his refusal to follow basic safety protocols.

(via CNN, image: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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