Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is making headlines, not for his play on the field, but for his new fight against what he calls the “woke mob.” With past claims of immunization for COVID-19 and his recent positive test, Rodgers is on the defensive.
After testing positive for COVID-19, Rodgers sat out of the Packers game against the Chiefs last Saturday, a 13-7 win.
Rodgers was called out on social media after it was announced he would be benched for the game and not allowed in the facility for 10 days after the positive test. Evidence of his past claims of being vaccinated resurfaced leading to a frenzy of hate for the star.
Negative feedback came from other athletes as well, including former NBA star and activist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
“Instead of consulting immunologists, he consulted anti-vaxxer and podcast host Joe Rogan, who also contracted the virus,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote in his Substack newsletter. “If he ever requires open-heart surgery will he hand the scalpel to romance writers because they know about matters of the heart?”
Mike Fisher, former player for the NHL, posted “I stand with Aaron Rodgers” on his Instagram.
“I believe in the freedom to choose what we put in our bodies and the freedom of conscience,” Fisher stated in his Instagram caption. “I agree with him in that science clearly shows the vaccinated spread COVID-19 at basically the same rate as the unvaccinated.”
In his first appearance since the news broke, Rodgers went on “The Pat McAfee Show” to address the issue and give his perspective in an attempt to calm the public down.
He explained that he felt there was a bit of a “witch hunt that was going on across the league where everybody in the media was so concerned about who was vaccinated.”
Rodgers said this led him to simply respond he was “immunized” but not specifically stating it was from COVID-19.
He continued to try and make it explicitly clear that he was not “a COVID-denier” or an “anti-vax, flat earther.”
He was just trying to “make the best choice for [his] body” which he felt should not have been judged how it was.
Rodgers is suspected to come back for week 10 against Seattle based on the NFL unvaccinated player protocol.