What Will ESPN Do Amid Aaron Rodgers Controversy After Jimmy Kimmel Comments on the Pat McAfee Show?

Dan Le Batard, Jemele Hill, Pablo Torre, and Mike Schur react to Aaron Rodgers’ recent controversial comments on The Pat McAfee Show involving Jimmy Kimmel. What will ESPN do after it? What are the dynamics after comments like that are made on Disney air about a Disney employee? and what happens next?

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#lebatardshow #lebatard #thepirateship #sports #betting #sportsbetting #live #stugotz #danlebatard #espn #patmcafee #pablotorre #mikeschur #jimmykimmel #jimmykimmellive #patmcafeeshow #espn

Pablo I wanted to ask you about what is happening right now at ESPN and at Disney where you have Jimmy Kimmel going after Aaron Rodgers Aaron roders is being paid by Pat McAfee a lot of uh a lot of money I remember at ESPN having pretty enormous fights just trying to

Keep Ron McGill the animal guy on the air at ESPN and I’ve got to imagine as ESPN is no commenting stuff around Aaron Rodgers because he’s uh linking Disney’s biggest talk show host to the Epstein Island in a way that’s making Jimmy Kimmel come back at him not

With jokes but threatening legal action because he doesn’t want to be put near the Epstein list what kind of problem here does ESPN and Disney have on its hand that and and Jamal you could speak to this too you’ve got employees going back and forth in what was supposed to

To be a a zone that didn’t include this stuff Ive I’ve been marveling at the way in which people who work at ESPN still like Stephen A when they’re not at ESPN on air um can basically pivot to a certain horniness that was once Unthinkable on Disney Airwaves and I I

Praise the pivot to horniness Jamal I’ll be honest like I’m clicking on those videos I the evolution of Stephen a love doctor I’m like all right what’s where does he rank Latinas I want to find out I’ll admit it now that said that said when it comes to what’s on the air

Itself th this feels like a certain Rubicon being crossed in so far as I don’t know how internet brained you have to be to do the thing that Elon Musk managed to get away with perhaps because he bought the platform upon which he said it which is oh that guy’s a

Pedophile like that was the remember like the Thai cave diver guy who was like helping save the kids stuck in the cave or whatever like he got away with that and I just wonder if Aaron Rogers is just at this point where he’s like not even thinking that this is insane

And legally actionable and also on a network that I just hate okay can I just fast forward a bit to like the news cycle here I just hate I preemptively want to say how much I hate how Aaron Rogers is gonna claim to be cancelled because he accused Jimmy Kimmel of being

A pedophile on his employer’s own Airwaves I just hate that Aaron Rogers has been getting away with so much stuff that that puts such a lie to the whole idea of like the MSM uh the elite media like Aaron Rogers has whatever the hell he wants every Tuesday on the most

Mainstream Sports channel and now because he crossed this Rubicon I feel like he’s going to be a victim again and I just hate that this is going to get there inevitably no I think um I think that’s the inevitable conclusion because think listen if you’re Jimmy Kimble who do you

Think Jimmy Kimble called after or what what’s this news broke Bob Iger perhaps okay perhaps and what what’s going to happen I don’t know that for sure so you know I don’t want to see some reports that she said he called you know that it was factual but like I’m just thinking

Knowing how the internal politics work at ESPN at Disney at AB ABC we know he made a call all right so that means that once they get the the emperor involved in Bob Iger then this is when this goes to another level this is when this goes to that

Conclusion that we’re never really gonna get to that you talked about Pablo because ESPN or someone is going to have to re this in and uh we know there’s no more offensive crime in the universe of ESPN and Disney than host on host crime or Talent on Talent crime there is no

Bigger offense and you know ask Tony Kornheiser and Hannah Storm like there is no bigger thing I I experienced some of this myself when me and Chris Burman got into it behind the scenes and that escalated uh you know to a certain level of executivenew Aaron roders appearances

Maybe not right now in the moment but looking on down the line at some point I guess if you’re ABC or ESPN or those people who get paid to make these decisions you wonder is it worth it to have him on if every week there is going to be some kind of

Headline of him saying something and us making news for the wrong reasons you guys say news for the wrong reasons but the three faces talking right now on this uh camera can make the argument that they have been turned in to political weapons for their Sports

Opinions and now no longer work at ESPN even though Pablo still does some stuff at ESPN so when you guys say Jimmy Kimmel makes a call to Iger my immediate thought is and McAfee tells his audience how that Disney’s not going to change the show he promised them wasn’t going

To change at all when Iger gets involved after changing the entire landscape there to pay the macaes of the world $17 million to not have to answer to anybody because he’s his own entity paying his own employ it’s not even Disney money that’s going to Aaron Rogers Pat McAfee

Tore up a deal bigger than ours $120 million deal to go to ESPN get less money but get the platform with the promise that they would not change that show how can he argue I couldn’t argue to my audience that I wasn’t going to change the Miami show if I got rid of

The animal guy that’s the animal guy that’s like I mean that’s Ron McGill like think about what we’re talking about there how does Pat McAfee tell his audience this isn’t going to change when iger’s making that phone call right I mean look this is by the way there’s a

Poetry in this story right just as a media story like the and this is now playing out the hypothetical in which Pat McAfee has to reckon with a heat check that backfired and exploded the platform that he uh made those trade-offs to to be on Dan The Poetry

Here is in this what if the reason Pat McAfee got the platform which is Rogers almost specifically right like nothing cut through more than Aaron Rogers being on Pat McAfee’s show for Pat McAfee that was the biggest win that elevated him transcended him into this into this

Rarified territory where he can do all these things if that same guy ends up being the reason why something material changes about his license to have a freedom of speech that I don’t think any other person in the history of the network has ever enjoyed like let’s just

Be clear about what he’s been getting away with and again I don’t begrudge it because I’m not scand IED by it I’ve just been noticing it in the way that all of us can notice what we were allowed to say and what we weren’t um it would be incredible if that is the

Reason why if if Rogers is the reason for his rise and his fall in that way well um to Dan’s point though is that you you know they knew what they were getting into and I don’t mean to suggest that like Pat MAA is some kind of

Nefarious character I I enjoy him and and frankly I I think it is good for the network that he’s there because sure um I I I like the fact that they are opening up do I wish this would have happened more when I was there of course

I do but I still think it’s a necessary step um in terms of them getting out of their own way and and developing and growing in terms of how they want to relate to to Their audience but at the same time though there is Jimmy Kimmel

If he wanted to could force them into an awfully uncomfortable decision because frankly I’m just putting myself in Jimmy kimmell shoes and if it were me and one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time went on at ESPN Airwaves and essentially linked me to a you know a horrific case

Of sex trafficking involving a completely nefarious figure I would not rest until he was off the air and so that that’s the tension point that I’m seeing developing is that this is going to turn this could turn really ugly and I just don’t know if simply telling Pat

McAfee or telling Aaron Rogers a no problem with how you know with how you guys generally do your business but you’re going to have to chill out and how does that conversation to Dan’s Point given that Pat McAfee has already made the promise to his audience that he

Won’t change and you know how stubborn Aron Rogers is how is that going to play out and how will they receive that message so like I just see a lot of combustible elements in this Dynamic well I just one more thing though I think part of the behind the scenes

Ecosystem that’s worth pointing out here too is that the question is whether you as a host of this show that has great real estate and I’m with you Jamal in terms of like I am in favor of being able to say a lot more than what was previously allowed right I am not

Begrudging that that is a good thing I don’t think anybody um is I am not at least angry at like oh no Pat McAfee can talk about non-sports stuff for a really long time that’s not it but the question to me is whether you actually see yourself as an ESPN employee as a

Teammate of everyone else who’s a full-time employee at the Disney properties because that’s the whole thing you walk into Disneyland we all did this they say hello cast member right like as if you’re like hanging out with Goofy um and in this case the question is do you actually do you

Actually live up to the implications of that when it comes to that interessen sort of warfare that Jamal was to let’s take it to the center of the culture wars though Pat McAfee doesn’t actually need ESPN he does not and if he is paying Aaron Rodgers millions of dollars because Aaron roders

Got him 500,000 people on YouTube and he believes that’s the reason he’s a a half a billion doll company now McAfee is not powerless here McAfee can actually turn this into a freedom fight that makes him even more popular for leaving ESPN as well like this can escalate if he values

Aaron Rodgers as a teammate and friend enough to give him millions of dollars in a way that he was pissed off at the New York Post called the reporter a rat because ESPN leaked to the New York Post the the the information reportedly this is what McAfee is upset about that

Allegedly allegedly right no I need to say I need to say that because Rogers was I’m sorry McAfee was upset because he felt like someone at ESPN had betrayed him with that information he called the reporter a rat if all of that is in play why do you guys think think

Kimmel has more power here than McAfee well it’s almost it’s almost like well J I’m curious what you think but it’s almost like if you’re inside of this universe then yes Jimmy Kimmel has more power if you decide and you mentioned it D I think it’s a brilliant

Point if Pat mcavey wants to go hypothetically and say because my freedom of speech has been compromised I’m going to go to a platform where I have no censorship restrictions at all that is a very Savvy move that would result in you know again the patreon the only fansing the everybody is hustling

Independently from a Creator to Consumer to a fandom uh Dynamic that we’re familiar with and it’ be very profitable no question I think it would actually increase his profile if that was the if he said I don’t want to be on the field at you know these games these college

Football playoff games I’d rather monetize that philosophy than yeah there is even more money in that I would say yeah I mean look I didn’t mean to to make the uh assumption or not the assumption but make the assertion rather that Pat M has no power I mean he has a

Lot of cards he has a lot of Leverage hence why he’s even in this position to be to begin with but I I I think this is kind of one of those worst Fe fears realized when you have two extremely popular gigantic personalities who now have beef um and that is a very

Difficult situation to manage and it’s because of what they have beef over I think it’s the subject matter that matters like if this were something a little more frivolous If This Were something that like he could laugh off even I gotta be honest even if it was another Co conspiracy right it would

Probably be fine right that would be way better than being linked to pedophilia on that note we welcome in Mike Sher uh because he was scheduled to join us now and surely he has opinions on this subject matter as well uh Mike I just want to include you in the conversation

Without being redundant here because we’re talking about what I think is pretty fascinating here Aaron roders uh now feuding with Jimmy Kimmel at the height of sports entertainment and the comedian is not making any jokes and the comedian is saying publicly hey I’m going to take you to court for

Affiliating me with any of this I’m interested in sort of the micro mechanics of how the power dynamics are going to work on whether or not McAfee and Aaron Rogers going to stay at ESPN but what was your initial reaction to seeing this clip because a lot of people

Have a lot of opinions of everything Aaron Rogers is doing these days well you know every year uh if you work in TV a lawyer comes to talk to you and says like here’s what you can do and here’s what you can’t do and not a joke

The the number one example of a thing you can’t do is assert that someone is a pedophile if they’re not a pedophile it’s the the number one example that they use and so as soon as I saw this I was like this is over like he this this

Jamal just made the point but like there’s a lot of things you can get away with of of insinuating or whatever you want to call it making a joke about someone and how they live their life you cannot say someone’s a pedophile it’s like it’s just absolutely verboten and

That’s why Kimmel isn’t making jokes about this it’s like this isn’t a joke this is a this is the essentially the worst thing you can say about someone and so I don’t care how much power McAfee has I don’t care how much how much Aaron Rogers talks about freedom of

Speech which like most things he doesn’t seem to really actually understand what that means you can’t do that and so this is going to end I would be shocked if this if this had legs from Aaron or Pat’s side because you are exposing yourself not just to Legal liability but

To all sorts of things if you claim what he is claiming and and it’s he I don’t know that they’re going to walk it back necessarily because those two guys aren’t really in the walk it back business as far as I know but this is not going to go any further and because

It would be the just uh the height of stupidity for them to press this issue or to try to turn this into some kind of Freedom fight and and by the way yeah MCA could leave obviously he could leave he had left before and was a huge

Success he took a pay cut to go back to ESPN but I don’t think he would leave and then have Rogers on to talk about this more either because he’s then personally liable for whatever happens after that so I I I think this is I think this is going to be over very

Quickly not just because of the corporate dynamics of play but because the thing that Rogers did is the stupidest possible thing you can do as an individual uh and so I think it’s over that’s my guess you say that but I feel in what are American culture wars

These days publicly that I keep thinking it can’t get dumber and it keeps getting dumber from every angle am I wrong about this like you say no you I mean you I can see all sorts things I never thought I would see argued out loud in my

Lifetime things that are now facts that get argued about even though they’re facts somebody help me here with as uh Jamal as Mike says yeah it’s the dumbest thing you can do but here they are in the center of it and they’re not commenting and you and

Me Jamal have been at the center of ESPN not commenting there are so much going on behind the scenes right now including Pat McAfee not totally trusting that people who leak things to the New York Post to shame him are actually supporting him and his friend Aaron Rogers neither of whom need or

Necessarily like what Disney’s about well to your point about us arguing about things you never thought we’d argue about out loud we’re still arguing about the cause of the Civil War so I’m just saying like Dan’s not wrong okay not wrong at all and for the record

It was slavery we’re not so much to be fair we’re not we’re not so much arguing about it as we are just sometimes not mentioning it or pretending that it’s something else like that there’s a difference I think between well there are people certainly argue about it but

There’s people who are uh solicitous of a certain uh electorate slice who just kind of don’t mention that it or pretend that it wasn’t what it was yeah at the beginning of every GOP uh sort of uh debate someone walks into the back room and says so the number one thing you

Can’t talk about is how the Civil War was over slavery just don’t do that everything else you yeah Jessica is presently right now listening to the McAfee show on her phone can’t believe you’re making me listen this I’m sorry I’m doing that to you what can you update us on as we do

This in real time and what has he had to do publicly here because this isn’t going to just stop here with whatever it is that’s happened today there’s going to have to be an accounting for whether Aaron Rogers stays has multiple phones you’re staring at I’m on five devices

Right now it’s very hard to concentrate um he is the quote that awful announcing posted which is they posted a three-minute video this is basically the gist of the entire video was uh I can see exactly why Jimmy Kimmel felt the way he felt especially with his position

But I think Aaron was just trying to talk your H ilal defense yeah my C was just trying to talk to I have a theory wait wait a minute wait a minute so so after Iger makes calls and we’ve got posturing from powerful people the way that this ends is ah we

Were just talking over and out yeah yeah can can I see what my theory is about this yes I I think that Aaron Rogers this is based on nothing I think that Aaron Rogers feels like maybe his career should have gone better and that he should have more Super Bowl victories

And he’s like he’s just like sad that it’s ending and I honestly feel like if Mike McCarthy had been a slightly better Coach or if like if what’s his name uh Ted Thompson had been a slightly better GM none of this would be happening like if Aaron Rogers had three Super Bowl

Rings none of this would be you put it on the poll please at lebatard show did Aaron roders go crazy politically because of Mike McCarthy yes or no was he radicalized yeah I what an odd Theory and yeah and such a good take lack of winning your best mik Jessica and Jeremy

Are totally in agreement with what it is that you’re saying that this is just uh him him saying to himself I was just as good as Tom Brady he sad he’s so sad he’s a very sad person it seems yeah he’s just like desperate to be like relevant or love like Tom Brady

Probably has the same degree of right-wing politics that Aaron Rogers has but he just is more content because he’s got seven Super Bowl rings so he’s just he doesn’t need this like uh googly eyed acolyte like uh uh chanting his name and telling him he’s a genius and

That he’s important so Aaron Rogers hasn’t gotten that to the degree he needs it from football so he’s getting it from the worst people on like achan or whatever and and people who buy like Rudy Giuliani commemorative plates off of an ad on Newsmax at 3 in the morning

Like that’s all this is it’s just like a desperate need for that app for that like love and attention that he didn’t get enough of Jessica