Anthony Fauci has received much-deserved mockery for his refusal to answer for his many Covid lies during last week’s Senate hearing. And that ridicule is now coming from one of the country’s largest entertainment venues: professional sports.
The latest incident came about on Monday, when NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers tore into the former White House Covid czar during a live taping of ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show. The longtime athlete was one of several Pittsburgh Steelers players interviewed at the team’s training camp.
When asked by McAfee what his mentality is heading into his final NFL season, Rodgers responded, “I’m gonna plead the Fifth like that absolute coward Tony Fauci.”
“Absolute coward. Are you kidding me? You got a pardon and … he pleaded over a hundred times. … What are you scared of, Tony? I thought you were ‘the science’?” Rodgers said.
Fauci’s refusal to answer lawmakers’ questions about his role in funding gain-of-function research in China, downplaying the credible lab leak theory, and ignoring the Covid shots’ risks and potential Covid treatments came days after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., released the former health official’s “diaries.” The records revealed more of Fauci’s self-aggrandizing behavior, collusion with corporate media, Covid falsehoods, and more.
During his interview with McAfee, Rodgers blasted legacy media for whitewashing the revelations and Fauci’s conduct after obsessing over his Covid vaccination status and Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding. The Steelers quarterback was one of the few major cultural figures at the time to openly push back against America’s insane Covid response.
“What are they gonna say about me now? Now that you can’t talk about the Covid stuff because obviously it was made in a lab in China, that’s like not even questionable anymore; Tony Fauci is an absolute criminal; I’m on good terms with my family … what are you gonna say now?” Rodgers said. “I thought you had a pardon there, Tony, why couldn’t you answer one question the entire time?”
McAfee explained how Rodgers consulted with his doctors about whether or not to get the Covid shot, and how that “became a talking point of Covid … around the entire globe.” The ESPN host noted how he was called “a murderer” for platforming Rodgers, who he added “was making the decision that was best for himself.”
“As soon as I see all this start happening with Fauci, I knew that, boy, you [Rodgers] were certainly having a time because your name was slandered. You were called a murderer, you were called a lot of things,” McAfee said.
They said “I was endangering my teammates … and now look what happened. … They suppressed early treatments; they lied about where it came from. Tony Fauci’s writing in his journal about, ‘I don’t wanna … create any vaccine hesitancy if I tell them what the actual stats are,’” Rodgers said.
The Steelers quarterback further credited medical specialists like Peter McCollough, Robert Malone, and other doctors — “who actually did treatment on the front end and repurposed drugs that are the safest profiles in the world” — for following the data and standing against the unscientific policies pushed by Fauci and Co.
In closing out the discussion, McAfee gave Rodgers props for standing behind his principles throughout the entire fight, praise which elicited cheers from the audience.
“I feel great about it. I told you I would be on the right side of history,” Rodgers said.
McAfee and his team previously poked fun at Fauci’s decision to plead the Fifth last week. The skit was based on comments by Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who mocked Fauci during a recent press conference.
