ESPN exec on Aaron Rodgers’ Jimmy Kimmel accusation: ‘A dumb and factually inaccurate joke’ – Beragampengetahuan

Mike Foss, an ESPN senior vice president who oversees “The Pat McAfee Show,” called Aaron Rodgers’ comments about Jimmy Kimmel’s name being connected to a lawsuit against convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein “a dumb and factually inaccurate joke” and said that Rodgers would be back on the show Tuesday.

“Pat announced today that he’s planning on Aaron joining the show Tuesday. Aaron made a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel,” Foss said Friday in an ESPN statement.

Rodgers’ comment drew an immediate response from Kimmel on Tuesday. The late-night talk show host threatened Rodgers with court action after the comment.

McAfee opened his show Wednesday with an apology about the situation.

“We obviously don’t like the fact that we are associated with anything negative, ever,” he said. “We like our show to be an uplifting one, a happy one, a fun one. But it’s because we talk s— and try to make light of everything. Some things, obviously people get very pissed off about especially when they (are) serious allegations. So we apologize for being a part of it. Can’t wait to hear what Aaron has to say about it. Hopefully, those two will just be able to settle this, not court-wise. But be able to chit-chat and move along.”

Tuesday, Rodgers implied that Kimmel’s name could appear in court documents from a case filed against Epstein before his death. The documents include names of more than 150 people that had previously been redacted from court filings.

“That’s supposed to be coming out soon. There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, are really hoping that doesn’t come out,” Rodgers said.

Kimmel reposted a clip of the segment from “The Pat McAfee Show” on X and denied the allegation.

“For the record, I’ve not met, flown with, visited, or had any contact whatsoever with Epstein, nor will you find my name on any ‘list’ other than the clearly-phony nonsense that soft-brained wackos like yourself can’t seem to distinguish from reality,” Kimmel said. “Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court.”

Foss’ statement comes on the heels of McAfee accusing ESPN executive Norby Williamson on Friday of sabotaging his program by leaking false viewership information to the media.

“There are some people actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN,” McAfee said. “More specifically, Norby Williamson is the guy who is attempting to sabotage our program.”

Required reading

(Photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)