An ulterior motive? Aaron Rodgers shared his thoughts on the Green Bay Packers’ recent loss in the NFL playoffs — and he thinks some viewers were actively cheering for his downfall.
“There were a ton of people tuning in rooting against us for one reason, and one reason only,” the quarterback, 38, said during a Tuesday, January 25, appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “It’s because of my vaccination status and them wanting to see us lose so they could pile on and enjoy and revel in the fact that my vaccination status was some sort of reason why we haven’t had success in the playoffs.”
The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Packers on Saturday, January 22, knocking the Wisconsin team out of contention for the Super Bowl. After the game, social media lit up with memes that referenced Rodgers’ controversial vaccine stance.
Last year, the former Jeopardy! guest host admitted that he was unvaccinated after missing a game because he tested positive for COVID-19. In August 2021, the athlete claimed that he was “immunized,” but after he contracted coronavirus, he clarified that he did not receive one of the vaccines approved by the CDC.
“I march to the beat of my own drum,” he said during a November 2021 interview on The Pat McAfee Show. “I believe strongly in bodily autonomy, [in the] ability to make choices for your body, not to have to acquiesce to some woke culture or crazed group of individuals who say you have to do something.”
The California native went on to claim that he was allergic to one of the ingredients in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, noting that he decided against the Johnson & Johnson shot because he “heard of multiple people who had adverse events” after receiving it.
During the same interview, Rodgers said that he planned on starting a family soon, but he worried that the vaccine might impact his fertility. The NFL player confirmed his engagement to Shailene Woodley in early 2021.
“The next great chapter of my life, I believe, is being a father, and it’s something that I care about a lot,” the former University of California, Berkeley player said. “And to my knowledge, there’s been zero long-term studies around sterility or fertility issues around the vaccine, so that was definitely something that I was worried about and it went through my mind.”
Earlier this month, a study by the Boston University School of Public Health found that coronavirus vaccines do not cause infertility, but men who contract COVID-19 may temporarily experience reduced infertility.