After spending the better part of a year being dragged for spreading conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and vaccines, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has upped the ante.
In an interview with ESPN released Friday, anti-vaxxer Rodgers also dug into the provably false far-right assertion Democratic President Joe Biden isn't the actual President of the United States, and that he stole the 2020 election.
In the interview, Rodgers derisively questioned Biden's win and called his administration the "fake White House."
\u201c\u2026but I guess he got 81 million votes.\u201d\n\nIn an Interview with ESPN, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers appears to cast doubt that Joe Biden is the legitimate President of the United States.pic.twitter.com/xeeTqF8v4y— PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1642878501
Rodgers' comments to ESPN were in response to a moment in December when Biden jokingly told a woman in a Packers jacket to tell Rodgers to get the vaccine following his scandal in which Rodgers announced he had lied to the NFL about his vaccination status.
Rodgers retorted with a rambling diatribe full of conspiracy theories.
He told ESPN:
"When the president of the United States says, 'This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,' it's because him and his constituents, which, I don't know how there are any if you watch any of his attempts at public speaking, but I guess he got 81 million votes."
After sowing doubt about Biden's legitimacy despite a total lack of evidence, Rodgers then continued his criticism using totally incorrect statistics about COVID-19.
"But when you say stuff like that, and then you have the CDC, which, how do you even trust them, but then they come out and talk about 75% of the COVID deaths have at least four comorbidities."
While the right has repeatedly echoed these statistics, the CDC said no such thing. The claim is based on a frequently misquoted interview with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in which she cited a recent study that found that of 1.2 million vaccinated COVID patients, just 36 died, 28 of whom--or roughly 75%--had at least four risk factors.
That puts skepticism like Rodgers' in almost farcically stark relief, but that didn't stop him from doubling down on his absurd claims and criticisms. He went on to say:
"And you still have this fake White House set saying that this is the pandemic of the unvaccinated, that's not helping the conversation."
Again, there is no evidence that Biden's election to the Presidency was illegitimate and the scientific and medical communities, including doctors in the myriad American hospitals on the brink of collapse, have repeatedly reported the overwhelming majority of their COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated. As the right-wing loves to say, "Facts don't care about your feelings," Mr. Rodgers.
As if this embarrassingly arrogant and ignorant interview weren't bad enough, Rodgers and the Packers then went on to a stunning one-and-done playoff loss to the San Francisco 49'ers Saturday in which Rodgers played uniquely terribly.
Taken all together, Rodgers is getting dragged harder than ever before.
- Called the White House fake \n- Questioned the election results\n- Put up 10 points in a playoff game\n\nBang-up week for Aaron Rodgerspic.twitter.com/cl4DVQYmmr— Nick Veronica (@Nick Veronica) 1642912719
pic.twitter.com/WFXyIVLymU— Shelby \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Shelby \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1643035707
Kaarron Rodgers says he is going to show up at the super bowl anyway because he actually won you just don\u2019t understand football.— Diogenes (@Diogenes) 1643031269
Aaron Rodgers didn\u2019t want to have an awkward meeting with the \u201cfake White House\u201d so he was the bigger man and refused to even make it to the Super Bowl. That took guts.— Craig Harrington (@Craig Harrington) 1642913036
pic.twitter.com/TlB0sthjNs— Philly Golfer (@Philly Golfer) 1643030758
Aaron Rodgers spread disinformation, saying the CDC said "75% of the COVID deaths have at least 4 comorbidities" when that was from a study of 1.2 million fully vaccinated. He also referenced the "fake White House" inferring he believes The Big Lie. He's hurting America-Go 49ers!— Edge \ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a (@Edge \ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a) 1642900788
Aaron Rodgers, who is unvaccinated, lied about being vaccinated, and called the Joe Biden White House "fake," is now 0-4 against the Niners in the playoffs, and has been eliminated from the 2022 playoffs.\n\nYou absolutely love to see it.\n\nHope he has enough Ivermectin to cheer up.pic.twitter.com/ecwaDmcULw— Matt (@Matt) 1642911115
twitter coming together to properly roast aaron rodgerspic.twitter.com/ovOxunrJMO— sean yoo (@sean yoo) 1642912106
"I guess he got 81 million votes", and I guess you guest-hosted Jeopardy!, dumbass.https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1484659848520343552\u00a0\u2026— Josh Spiegel (@Josh Spiegel) 1642882667
If Biden tweeted something like "Guess I won't be seeing Aaron Rodgers at my fake White House any time soon" he'd have all of Twitter on his side for a brief moment.— John Elrod II (@John Elrod II) 1642919810
On the bright side, as several on Twitter pointed out Rodgers will now have an entire year to "do his own research" on the pandemic and the election and maybe figure out how wrong he is. It could happen!