NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers is keeping busy while he recovers from the torn Achilles tendon that has kept him off the field during his first season with the New York Jets. He’s been sharing updates on injury with fans and cheering on the Jets from the sidelines—but mainly, he’s been trying to get Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s attention.
Kelce is riding high at the moment thanks to his 2023 Super Bowl win and budding romance with pop superstar Taylor Swift, not to mention the fact that the Chiefs are doing well this season, having beat the Jets in a 23-20 victory earlier this month. Shortly after that game, Rodgers declared that the Jets had the “moral victory,” pointedly referring to Kelce as “Mr. Pfizer” in a reference to the tight end’s recent ad campaign with the company.
“I thought it was pretty good,” Kelce said of the nickname, adding: “With this mustache right now I look like a guy named Mr. Pfizer. Who knew I’d get into the vax wars with Aaron Rodgers, man?” He went on to allude to the fact that Rodgers’ team is owned by Woody Johnson, joking that their rivalry is essentially “Mr. Pfizer vs. the Johnson and Johnson family over there.”
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Rodgers, who has gone on the record as being against the Covid vaccine and described himself as being in “the crosshairs of the woke mob” for his stance, is determined to keep this increasingly one-sided beef going.
“Mr. Pfizer said he didn’t think he’d be in a vax war with me,” he said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “This ain’t a war homie, this is just conversation. But if you want to have some sort of duel, debate, have me on the podcast, come on the show. Let’s have a conversation.”
He then proposed an even more bizarre component to this hypothetical “duel,” saying: “Let’s do it like in John Wick 4, so we both have a second—someone to help us out.” Rodgers suggested “pharmacrat” Dr. Anthony Fauci as Kelce’s second, while he would want fellw anti-vaxxer—and 2024 presidential candidate—Robert F. Kennedy in his own corner.
“That’d be big ratings,” he said.
It sure would. Because who doesn’t want to watch when the circus comes to town?
