Dr. Anthony Fauci’s lawyer is not letting Aaron Rodgers’ COVID-19 rant go unanswered.
During Monday’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers attacked Dr. Fauci for being an “absolute criminal” and “absolute coward.”
Rodgers also brought up a conspiracy theory that Fauci’s wife’s sister is Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted child sex trafficker.
A day later Dr. Fauci’s lawyer, David Schertler, said in an email to Saad Yousuf of The Athletic, “Aaron Rodgers doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He should stick to football.”
Rodgers rebuke of Dr. Fauci, who helped lead the U.S. government response to the COVID pandemic, was in response to the him invoking the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during a contentious Senate hearing on Capitol Hill about COVID-19.
Dr. Fauci even refused to answer simple questions such as the color of his tie or the day of the week.
“I’m going to plead the fifth… like that absolute coward, Tony Fauci,” Rodgers said. “Are you kidding me? You got a pardon and you pleaded [the fifth] over 100 times. What are you scared of Tony?
“I thought you were the scientist, and he gets up there and can’t answer a question.”
Rodgers had faced a lot of scrutiny during the pandemic for not getting a COVID-19 vaccine and commented on how much coverage ESPN did on that while doing nothing on Dr. Fauci’s response.
“No seriously, what are they gonna say about me now?” Rodgers said. “Now that you can’t talk about the COVID stuff because obviously 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. What are you going to say now?”
After multiple attempts by McAfee to change the subject, he eventually gave into the ordeal and congratulated Rodgers for “standing on your truth throughout the entirety of that thing.”
He said he knew how much Rodgers’ name was being slandered through it all because McAfee was receiving hate for having him on the show.
The Steelers quarterback then also took the opportunity to question ESPN’s coverage of other scandals around the league, including the situation with former NFL insider Dianna Russini and Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel.
“How much time did your network spend on that?” Rodgers said.
Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy responded to his quarterback’s rant with an explanation that it’s a part of coaching grown men.
He said they are all going to have their own opinions on things and it’s his job to “keep it about football.”
“We have a good locker room,” McCarthy said. “We have a player council that’s in place and we had our second meeting (Monday), and so I think we’re in a good spot.”
