(CNN) — Jimmy Kimmel used his late show monologue Monday to address an unfounded allegation recently lodged against him by NFL star Aaron Rodgers.
For more than seven minutes, Kimmel spoke about Rodgers, who last week suggested without support during an appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” that Kimmel might be named in documents identifying associates of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted pedophile who died in jail before he could face trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
It was a baseless allegation, Kimmel said, and he let it be known at the top of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that as the Epstein list has come out, “of course, my name isn’t on it and won’t ever be on it.”
“I don’t know Jeffrey Epstein, I’ve never met Jeffrey Epstein,” Kimmel said during his first live show of the new year. “I’m not on a list. I was not on a plane or an island or anything ever, and I suggested that if Aaron wanted to make false and very damaging statements like, that we should do it in court so he can share his proof with, like, a judge.”
Kimmel went on to point out there unfortunately are some who believe the things the injured New York Jets quarterback says, even as he questioned whether Rodgers himself actually believes them.
“Either he actually believes my name was going to be on Epstein’s list - which is insane - or the more likely scenario is he doesn’t actually believe that and he just said it because he’s mad at me for making fun of his top knot and his lies about being vaccinated,” Kimmel said of the well-known vaccine skeptic.
Kimmel went on to share a clip of himself making fun of Rodgers for having “floated this whacko idea” that news of recent UFO sightings aimed to distract from the Epstein list.
“This is how these nuts do it now,” Kimmel said. “If you don’t like Trump, you’re a pedophile. … It shows you how much they care about pedophilia.”
“The truth still matters,” Kimmel added later. “And when I do get something wrong, which happens on rare occasions, you know what I do? I apologize for it – which is what Aaron Rodgers should do, which is what a decent person would do. But I bet he won’t. If he does, you know what I’ll do? I’ll accept his apology and move on. But he probably won’t do that.”
Rodgers was asked earlier Monday if he had any regrets about what he’d said.
“Yeah, I’m gonna talk about it tomorrow on the show,” he said at a Jets news conference. “Tune in.”
Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019, had been accused in a federal indictment of running a sex trafficking ring of underage girls, some as young as 14.
CNN has reached out to a rep for Rodgers for comment. McAfee has apologized for Rodgers’ claims on his show.
Kimmel on Monday also said Rodgers has a “Thanksgiving Day parade-sized ego.”
“I spent years doing sports. I’ve seen guys like him before. Aaron Rodgers has a very high opinion of himself. Because he had success on the football field, he believes himself to be an extraordinary being,” Kimmel said. “He genuinely thinks that because God gave him the ability to throw a ball, he’s smarter than everyone else. The idea that his brain is just average is unfathomable to him.”
And Kimmel offered up some zingers about Rodgers: “They let him host ‘Jeopardy’ for two weeks, now he knows everything,” he joked.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
Video Source: Advocate Channel
