Aaron Rodgers Challenges Travis Kelce To Debate Vaccine Safety With RFK Jr. And Fauci

Topline

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers challenged Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce to a debate Tuesday on the topic of vaccine safety, with Rodgers saying presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former top infectious disease official Anthony Fauci should also be involved, after the two football stars spent the past week exchanging jabs over their positions on Covid vaccines.

Last week, Rodgers made fun of Kelce for his appearance in a Pfizer advertisement, dubbing him “Mr. … [+] Pfizer.”

Dustin Satloff/Getty

Key Facts

While appearing on the ESPN-broadcasted podcast, The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers said the debate would bring “big ratings” and could mirror the film John Wick: Chapter 4 where both opponents have a second person on their side, with Rodgers suggesting Kelce choose Fauci or some other “pharmacrat” and selecting Kennedy, an outspoken Covid vaccine skeptic, for himself.

The back-and-forth began last week when Rodgers was asked about the Chiefs win over the Jets—Rodgers did not play in the game as he is recovering from a season-ending achilles tear—and Rodgers responded by calling Kelce “Mr. Pfizer,” a reference to Kelce appearing in Pfizer’s commercials advertising the company’s Covid vaccine.

Kelce previously said Rodgers’ “Mr. Pfizer” comment was “pretty good” and added that he didn’t think he’d be in a vaccine war with Rodgers, and Rodgers countered those comments Tuesday saying it wasn’t a war, just a conversation.

Crucial Quote

“I made a tiny little joke about a guy schilling for a … corrupt company and everyone kind of loses their mind,” Rodgers said, referring to Pfizer during his podcast appearance.

Key Background

Rodgers has repeatedly spoken out against the Covid vaccine, saying in the past that the reason people were dying from Covid was because of the vaccines. A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that unvaccinated Americans are about ten times as likely to be hospitalized and 11 times as likely to die from Covid than vaccinated Americans. Rodgers has also said he’s concerned about potential fertility issues from the Covid vaccine, despite the CDC saying there’s no risk. Meanwhile, Kelce partnered with Pfizer to promote Covid and flu vaccines earlier this fall. At a gaggle with reporters last week, while addressing Rodgers calling Kelce “Mr. Pfizer,” Kelce said the nickname didn’t bother him and said he stood by taking the vaccine “1,000%.” Kelce said he got the vaccine to protect himself, his family and the people “in this building,” referring to those who work for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Tangent

Some social media users have questioned why ESPN, the network that airs The Pat McAfee Show, have allowed the hosts to repeatedly air speculation of the efficacy of the Covid vaccines. McAfee himself answered that question Tuesday, saying in part that in the weeks since the show moved to the network over the summer from FanDuel, ESPN has not said a single thing to the hosts. McAfee said ESPN was hands-off and said it’s “almost like out of sight, out of mind.” ESPN did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment. ESPN said in a press release last week that The Pat McAfee Show attracted 242 million total views in the first four weeks after it debuted on ESPN last month.

Surprising Fact

This is not the first time a group of podcasters have suggested a vaccine debate. Over the summer, a Twitter spat between podcaster Joe Rogan and scientist Peter Hotez led a number of people, including Elon Musk, Kennedy and billionaire Bill Ackman to suggest a debate over vaccine misinformation. The billionaires offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to charity if Hotez agreed, but Hotez said he would only discuss getting more people vaccines and vaccine misinformation. The online debate led anti-vaxxers to show up at Hotez’s home to “stalk” him. While this debate never aired, it remains unclear if Kelce, Fauci or Kennedy would agree to participate in the debate Rodgers suggested.