Jimmy Kimmel–Aaron Rodgers Feud Rolls on With Lengthy Late-Night Monologue
1. When I woke up this morning and grabbed my phone to scroll through Twitter, my feed was not dominated by Michigan’s national title win over Washington. It was dominated by Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue about Aaron Rodgers on his Monday show.
Tweet after tweet was about Kimmel “destroying” Rodgers, Kimmel “blasting” Rodgers, Kimmel “unleashes” on Rodgers, Kimmel “pulverizes” Rodgers.
After watching the seven-minute segment, I have a few thoughts.
• While he addressed it briefly, I was surprised Kimmel didn’t spend more time emphasizing he was not on any Jeffrey Epstein list and wasn’t mentioned at all in the 900-page Jeffrey Epstein report that came out last week, given Rodgers’s ridiculous implication last week.
I’ve seen and heard some Rodgers sycophants try to go through hoops to explain that Rodgers didn’t say Kimmel was a pedophile during his appearance on Pat McAfee’s show last week. But if you’re being honest and objective, we all know Rodgers absolutely and irresponsibly wanted to make some people think Kimmel was connected to Epstein.
Kimmel should’ve mentioned he wasn’t part of any of the Epstein stuff over and over and over because that makes Rodgers look worse than all the other insults.
• While this feud is ugly, the reality is this is a huge win for Pat McAfee. All Kimmel did Monday night was make sure more people will tune into Rodgers’s weekly spot with McAfee on Tuesday and give all the aggregators even more content because Rodgers will respond and the story will keep going.
• The most delicious part of Kimmel vs. Rodgers is the quote Rodgers, the guy who does one hour every single week with Pat McAfee, gave to the media Monday.
• The only interesting thing about the feud at this point is to see who will end it. Rodgers will address Kimmel’s monologue Tuesday. Will Kimmel then light into Rodgers again on his Tuesday night show? At some point, you’d think someone has to end this. Although, my guess is that deep down, Kimmel and Rodgers would love to keep this going.
Kimmel has to fill an hour of television five days a week. So he has plenty of time and opportunity to make fun of Rodgers. And Rodgers craves attention and loves messing with the media, so he’s in all his glory with this nonsense.
2. Speaking of Pat McAfee, on Monday he addressed his comments from Friday when he called out ESPN executive Norby Williamson for "sabotaging" his show. As I wrote Monday, McAfee showed the power he has by publicly going after an ESPN exec and he proved that again by not apologizing and doubling down.
3. NBC/Peacock will air three wild-card games this weekend. These are the broadcast assignments for each game:
Browns-Texans, Saturday, 4:30 p.m., NBC: Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge
Dolphins-Chiefs, Saturday, 8 p.m., Peacock: Mike Tirico and Jason Garrett
Rams-Lions, Sunday, 8 p.m., NBC: Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth
Saturday night will be a rough one for those in the NBC/Peacock PR department who will be dealing with irate fans complaining about Dolphins-Chiefs airing on only Peacock and Jason Garrett being in the booth for the game.
And it's not just NFL fans who are frustrated by the NFL putting a playoff game on a streaming-only service. Even Chiefs defensive end Charles Omenihu can't believe it.
4. Apple has released a trailer for its upcoming documentary series on the New England Patriots.
5. WWE superstar Cody Rhodes is as likable as any athlete today, but this is something else even for him. Rhodes spotted a fan’s sign at an event over the weekend that read, “Cody, be my best man.” And Rhodes has agreed.
6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina is an all-Traina Thoughts edition with Sal Licata. Topics discussed include the controversial ending of the Lions-Cowboys game, the ridiculous takes that followed and how the NFL has handled the situation; huge ratings for the Alabama-Michigan college football semifinal and the ridiculous start time for the Washington-Texas semifinal; the best play-by-play person in college football; The Rock’s return to Monday Night Raw and how he set up a future match with Roman Reigns; a review of The Iron Claw; the Aaron Rodgers–Jimmy Kimmel feud; Ian Ziering’s fight with a biker gang; why SiriusXM’s new app is a disaster; and much more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch SI Media with Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: We are celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Sopranos all week in Traina Thoughts. Today we feature one of the best scenes in the show’s history: Christopher’s intervention.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
