You’ve heard WFAN host Boomer Esiason talk Monday about the false Aaron Rodgers Super Bowl boycott story that originated on Boomer and Gio late last week. On Tuesday during his regular weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers spoke more about it.
Esiason said Monday on WEEI in Boston that the story was completely fabricated, as it was originally shared on a Twitter account with the handle @BackAftaThis. The account is verified and has more than 116,000 followers. The video, which is clearly edited together, has more than 1.8 million views. Esiason and co-host Gregg Giannotti acknowledged the story was fake, and the Twitter account has in its bio that Rodgers would not be boycotting the Super Bowl should the Packers get to LA.
Rodgers said normally he wouldn’t give the time of day to stories like that. But because Boomer and Gio were cited as the ones to break the story based on a text message from someone claiming to have sources close to Rodgers, the Packers QB couldn’t stay silent.
“I just felt like it was time to end that,” he told McAfee, noting he, Packers backup quarterback Jordan Love and others had fun on Twitter in response. He also made it clear that he wasn’t pleased that it became such a big deal.
“Why would I play in, to the majority of people, a meaningless Week 18 game and then what I care about and train for in the offseason, and focus on during the season, and manifest thoughts to my teammates to have this on our mind. Winning a Super Bowl,” he said. “You think I would do all that and play in a meaningless game to most people in Week 18 and then boycott the Super Bowl? You don’t know me.”
“It’s the dumbest f***ing thing,” he added. “It’s so dumb I wouldn’t even joke about it. That’s how dumb it is.”
Rodgers insisted no one in his inner circle was talking to the media.
“Whether you’re ‘Porn Hub’ (Hub Arkush) or whoever this direct source is, you don’t know me, so stop talking as if you do know me or you have some sort of idea.”
This is one of those times where some media members may call for the Packers QB to be challenged more by The Pat McAfee Show because ‘Boomer and Gio’ never treated the story as plausible on air. Both have since gone on separate shows to set the record straight that the video Rodgers responded to in the first place was edited to make it look like something it wasn’t.
Rodgers though has had most of his time and focus on football, so he’s appeared to take this personally, even though there are other layers to the story which make it clear that the New York radio hosts shot down the report. Given how much off-field chatter Rodgers has dealt with this year, it’s understandable why he might be ticked off with the sports media.