Aaron Rodgers called the rumor he would boycott the Super Bowl this year, should the Green Bay Packers advance to the game, “the dumbest (expletive) thing I’ve heard” and “so ridiculously off-base.”
“I’ve given a lot less (expletive) the last couple years but one thing I do give a major (expletive) about is ridiculous narratives about me,” Rodgers said Tuesday during his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
The latest Rodgers-centered drama stemmed from a segment last week on New York sports radio station WFAN, where morning host Boomer Esiason – a former NFL quarterback – had his co-host Gregg Giannotti read a text from another person who claimed they had heard from Rodgers’ “direct circle.”
The text alleged an elaborate plan for Rodgers to sit out the Super Bowl due to his displeasure with the league and its COVID-19 protocols. Rodgers, who is unvaccinated, missed a game during the regular season after testing positive for COVID-19.
Giannotti and Esiason said during the show they concluded they were being pranked, but Rodgers responded to a clip of the discussion last Friday with a series of mocking hashtags.
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“This one was pure comedy for me,” Rodgers told McAfee on Tuesday. “But when pure comedy turns into more slightly reputable news outlets who then mention that to where it becomes an even bigger story, I just felt like it was time to end that. We had some fun.”
That “fun” Rodgers referred to were the supporting social media statements that came from Packers backup quarterbacks Jordan Love and Kurt Benkert.
“No one in my ‘inner circle’ is talking to the media,” Rodgers said. “No one that I trust and care about and have conversations with is talking to any media member, is not going to leak anything.”
Rodgers went on to call the idea of him missing the Super Bowl “so ridiculously stupid.”
“It’s even past the point where I don’t even joke about that,” he said. “Do I have an issue with some of the protocols? Of course. But I would never even joke about this. It’s the dumbest (expletive) thing, I wouldn’t even joke about it.
“I mean, how (expletive) stupid is that?”
Super Bowl 56 is scheduled for Feb. 13 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Rodgers blasts rumor about Packers QB boycotting Super Bowl
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