Aaron Rodgers live appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” during Steelers training camp saw the quarterback calling out Dr. Anthony Fauci’s July Senate hearing.
Pat McAfee asked Rodgers about the mindset he had entering into his final season with the Steelers and with the NFL.
“I’m going to plead the fifth,” Rodgers responded on the show at Steelers training camp in Latrobe. “Like that absolute coward, Tony Fauci. Absolute coward. Are you kidding me? You got a pardon and you pleaded over a hundred times at the White House?”
Rodgers continued to dig into Anthony Fauci’s Fifth Amendment statement to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
That committee focused on allegations that Fauci helped fund lab research that led to the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans on the panel also alleged Fauci later attempted to mislead the American public on the origins of the virus from a lab in China.
There is no new scientific evidence that supports claims that the virus leaked from a lab, the Associated Press reports.
According to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 dashboard, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of over 7.1 million people globally. Of those 7.1 million people, 1.2 million deaths were reported in the United States.
Rodgers dug into the response that Fauci gave 111 times before turning his ire on the news media.
“How much time did the network spend on that? How much time did they spend on my responses every week? On my vaccination status? On Taylor and Travis’ wedding? Did they do even a minute on Tony Fauci?”
At one point, Rodgers turned to point to the camera and directed his comments to ESPN, the network he was currently on, after chants of MVP from the crowd.
“Then there is another scandal this offseason involving a voter for MVP, for coach of the year — how much time did your network spend? Where’s your camera?”
At that point, others on the show began to redirect him back to Fauci.
Rodgers famously defended not getting vaccinated, opting for alternative treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What are they going to say about me now? Now that they can’t talk about the COVID stuff, obviously because it was made in a lab in China. That’s not even questionable anymore. Tony Fauci is an absolute criminal. I’m on good terms with my family. I’m on good terms with my family. What are you going to say now?”
WISN 12 News’ sister station in Pittsburgh reached out to the Steelers for comment but has not heard back.
