NFL
By: Zachary Draves
Stick to Sports! Shut up and Dribble! Sports and Politics Don’t Mix!
These are the typical rallying cries amongst those who believe athletes shouldn’t offer an opinion or get involved in matters of political or social issues. The underlying notion is that athletes are mostly if not entirely good for only one thing, their athleticism. That they are somehow “uninformed” at best or “dumb” at worst.
But there is a caveat. As long as an athlete agrees with a position that is supported amongst the “stick to sports” crowd, then they have the utmost right to speak out and do so vigorously.
Enter Aaron Rodgers, who continuously puts the “A” in anti-intellectualism with his baseless conspiracy theories. Most notably his opinion on the COVID-19 vaccine and him admitting to misleading the public when he said he “immunized” prior to the start of the 2022-2023 season as a way of saying that he was not actually vaccinated.
(Courtesy: AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
This alone has garnered him tremendous support amongst the far right wing of the political spectrum which has been fervent in their scrutiny over the effectiveness of the vaccine and their opposition to policies such as vaccine mandates.
Now the 40-year-old New York Jets quarterback, who has been out indefinitely due to an Achilles injury, is in hot water for recent comments he made about comedian Jimmy Kimmel. During a Jan. 2 appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, where he is a regular guest, Rodgers accused the late-night host of being on the notorious Epstein List, as one of the various public figures that had ties with accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Kimmel quickly responded with a tweet and threatened Rodgers with a lawsuit.
Last week, hundreds of pages of documents linking various prominent figures to Epstein were released and Kimmel was not among them. On Monday, Kimmel reacted to Rodgers during the opening monologue of his show.
Due to the hoopla surrounding Rodgers’ words, Pat McAfee said on Tuesday that he will no longer be a guest on his show for the remainder of the NFL season.
In response, Rodgers said that he was glad that Kimmel wasn’t on the list, but he didn’t apologize and claimed that his comments were “misinterpreted” he was being “censored” by the mainstream media.
(Courtesy: Credit: ABC/Getty Images)
Never mind the fact that he is featured prominently on a mainstream media outlet.
But the bigger issue is the hypocrisy amongst those that are tempted to defend Rodgers, but don’t seem to give the same credence to other athletes who speak out and take positions that they don’t agree with.
Three outspoken athletes in particular, Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James, and Megan Rapinoe, have faced the ire of this group for years and been told that they should “shut up and dribble” or “love America or leave it”. As if their right to speak out doesn’t apply or is somehow “anti-American”.
In all clarity, Rodgers has the absolute right to say whatever he wants in a free society, but it comes with a cost especially when he promulgates horrific untruths.
To accuse a prominent person essentially of being a pedophile or looking the other way at pedophilia when there is no evidence is beyond reproach and warrants a healthy dose of inquiries into why Rodgers continues to dive into the dark underbelly of conspiracy theories.
(Courtesy: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)
This should serve as a clear reminder that the notion of “Stick to Sports” never has and never will be a reality. There is no such thing as “staying in your lane”. We are multidimensional beings who are greatly impacted by the world surrounding us and are able to articulate for ourselves about historical and present-day realities.
Either be consistent in saying that athletes should focus solely on their craft or don’t say it at all, because right now it is not a beautiful day in this Mr. Rodgers neighborhood.
