Now, McAfee’s ESPN colleague Smith spoke out on the incident on his own self-titled show this week and, as well as telling Rodgers to apologize, praised McAfee’s response.

‘I can applaud Pat McAfee for apologizing, but let me be the first to say, he didn’t need to,’ Smith said on his show.

Stephen A. Smith has told Aaron Rodgers to apologize to Jimmy Kimmel for his Epstein remark

Rodgers said on the Pat McAfee show this week that Kimmel would be on the Epstein list

‘He didn’t do anything wrong. It’s his show, the show is live, he didn’t know what Aaron Rodgers was going to say.

‘I do feel like Pat McAfee hit the nail on the head when he said Aaron Rodgers was just taking a dig at him [Kimmel], he was just joking around, he wasn’t necessarily serious about such a thing,’ Smith said.

‘But let me say this to Aaron Rodgers – Jeffrey Epstein ain’t nothing to joke about.

‘I love Aaron Rodgers, everybody knows he’s a bad man, you know me. But Aaron Rodgers should just apologize. Plain and simple. Just un-complicate the situation. Even if you don’t like Jimmy Kimmel, say that too!’

The day after Rodgers made the claims live on McAfee’s show, the host and former NFL player addressed the situation after Kimmel’s angry response.

Incandescent, Kimmel took to X to air his rage. ‘Dear A***hole: for the record, I’ve not met, flown with, visited, or had any contact whatsoever with Epstein, nor will you find my name on any ‘list’ other than the clearly-phony nonsense that soft-brained wackos like yourself can’t seem to distinguish from reality,’ the comedian fumed.

‘Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court.’

McAfee said at the beginning of his show on Wednesday: ‘There were some things that were, probably, I mean we’ll have to hear from Aaron on that, meant to be a s*** talk joke that can become a very serious allegation that leads to a massive overnight story.

The late-night TV host furiously took to X and said Rodgers’ claims ‘put my family in danger’

‘But I can see exactly why Jimmy Kimmel felt the way he felt, especially with his position but I think Aaron was just trying to talk s***.

‘Did it go too far? Er, Jimmy Kimmel certainly said that was the case. But that is Aaron and Jimmy, they’ve been [jousting a bit].

‘We obviously don’t like the fact that we’re associated with anything negative ever. We like our show to be an uplifting one, a happy one, a fun one. But it’s because we talk s*** and make light of everything, that some things people obviously get very p***ed off about, especially when they’re that serious allegations.

‘So we apologize for being a part of it. Can’t wait to hear what Aaron has to say about it. Hopefully those two will just be able to settle this.’

Rodgers has so far stayed silent since his appearance on Tuesday’s show.

According to A.J. Perez of Front Office Sports, a spokesperson for ESPN declined to comment to him on Monday night when asked if they are considering Rodgers’ future as a weekly guest – the Jets quarterback is paid for his appearances.