Jimmy Kimmel fires back at Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers over Jeffrey Epstein accusation
TV host Jimmy Kimmel and Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images; Nick Cammett/Getty Images
Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel fired back at Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Tuesday night after Rodgers suggested Kimmel’s name could be included on a list of Jeffrey Epstein’s associates expected to be unsealed by a judge.
Social media has been rife in recent weeks with posts speculating about a release of a list of clients or co-conspirators of Epstein, the jet-setting financier who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
However, according to The Associated Press, there is no such list. About 40 previously sealed court records were made public Wednesday, but the great majority of the people whose names appear in those documents are not accused of any wrongdoing.
More documents will be released in the coming days.
Rodgers, making his weekly appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" on ESPN on Tuesday, commented on the possibility of a client list being revealed.
"That’s supposed to be coming out soon," Rodgers said. "There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, are really hoping that doesn’t come out.”
Rodgers offered no evidence of anything regarding Kimmel.
U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska, who evaluated the documents to decide what should be unsealed, said in her December order she was releasing the records because much of the information within them is already public.
Some records have been released, either in part or in full, in other court cases. Much of the rest involve topics and people who have been exhaustively covered in nearly two decades' worth of newspaper stories, TV documentaries, interviews, books and testimony at Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal trial.
Kimmel responded to Rodgers on his social media account Tuesday evening.
"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 wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court."
Epstein was initially arrested in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex.
Dozens of other underage girls described similar sexual abuse, but prosecutors ultimately allowed the financier to plead guilty in 2008 to a charge involving a single victim. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.
Some famous acquaintances abandoned Epstein after his conviction, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, but many did not. Epstein continued to mingle with the rich and famous for another decade, often through philanthropic work.
Reporting by the Miami Herald renewed interest in the scandal, and federal prosecutors in New York charged Epstein in 2019 with sex trafficking. He killed himself in jail while awaiting trial.
The U.S. attorney in Manhattan then prosecuted Epstein’s former girlfriend, Maxwell, for helping recruit his underage victims. She was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison term.
Last March, Kimmel joked about comments Rodgers made on McAfee's show about UFOs and the Epstein list. "It might be time to revisit that concussion protocol, Aaron," Kimmel said at the time. Kimmel also called Rodgers a "Green Bay whack Packer" in regard to his take on news of UFOs.
“I'll tell you what," Rodgers said Tuesday, "if that list comes out, I definitely will be popping some sort of bottle.”
McAfee addressed the comments on his show Wednesday.
"We apologize for being a part of it," he said. "I can’t wait to hear what Aaron has to say about it. Hopefully those two will just be able to settle this."
Rodgers is not scheduled to talk at Jets practice on Wednesday, nor is the team planning to issue any statements. An email to Kimmel's representatives was not returned.
With AP
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
