Aaron Rodgers put Dr. Anthony Fauci’s Senate silence back in the spotlight, and Fauci’s lawyer responded by trying to shove the quarterback back onto the field.
After the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback ripped the former White House chief medical adviser on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Schertler answered through The Athletic.
“Aaron Rodgers doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Schertler said. “He should stick to football.”
Rodgers had called the former White House chief medical adviser an “absolute coward” and an “absolute criminal” during a wild on-air detour that started with a routine football question and quickly veered back into COVID-19, vaccine fights and Fauci’s recent Senate hearing.
The Steelers also had to respond after Rodgers’ comments started making noise.
The team did not take Rodgers on directly. Spokesman Burt Lauten said “players are entitled to their own personal views” and noted that the locker room includes a variety of opinions.
Mike McCarthy was asked Tuesday about the Rodgers flare-up and steered the answer back to his own job.
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The Steelers head coach told reporters he had to “keep it about football” and “keep the focus on winning.”
“These are grown men. They all have different opinions. There’s no question about that,” McCarthy told reporters.
He said the locker room was in a good spot, with a player council already in place.
Rodgers’ fight with the COVID-era establishment has been part of his public image since 2021, when he told reporters he was “immunized” and later faced questions over whether he had received the vaccines.
After testing positive, Rodgers said he was in the crosshairs of the “woke mob.”
His stance also cost him money. The NFL fined Rodgers $14,650 over protocol violations, while the Green Bay Packers were hit with a $300,000 fine.
That old fight came roaring back when McAfee asked Rodgers how he was viewing what was described as his last season.
Rodgers used the football question to tee off on Fauci.
“I’m gonna plead the Fifth. Like that absolute coward Tony Fauci,” Rodgers said. “Absolute coward. Are you kidding me? You got a pardon, and you pleaded over 100 times at the White House? What are you scared of, Tony? I thought you were the science?”
The dig was aimed at Fauci’s Senate appearance, where the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times during questioning that touched on COVID-19 and even his tie color.
Rodgers did not leave it there. He also seized on Fauci’s diary, which Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., published in the days before the hearing.
To Rodgers, the diary made Fauci look more interested in fame than accountability.
“Go back to the coward Tony Fauci, who’s spending the entire time writing in his diary about how fun it is to be famous? What are you going to say about me now? What are you going to say about me now?” Rodgers said.
Rodgers then pushed the attack into outright accusation.
“No, seriously, now that you can’t talk about the Covid stuff, because obviously that was made in a lab in China… that’s not even questionable any more. Tony Fauci is an absolute criminal,” he said.
Rodgers kept needling Fauci over the pardon while the segment kept rolling.
“I thought you had a pardon there, Tony. Why couldn’t you answer one question? We got four more minutes, let’s keep this s*** going.”
At one point, the McAfee panel pushed Rodgers back toward Fauci, and the crowd responded with “M-V-P!” chants.
Rodgers dragged ESPN into the rant, accusing the network of caring more about his own pandemic controversy than Fauci’s hearing.
He claimed ESPN would rather spend time on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding or the Dianna Russini-Mike Vrabel scandal from earlier in the offseason.
“Did they do even a minute on Tony Fauci? I bet they didn’t,” Rodgers asked.
One ESPN figure escaped the pile-on. Rodgers praised Stephen A. Smith for apologizing to NBA star Kyrie Irving after Smith had previously criticized Irving’s stance on COVID-19 vaccines.
McAfee and other members of the show also praised Rodgers for holding firm during the pandemic.
Rodgers also revisited the claim that he had put teammates at risk by bucking the NFL’s COVID-era rules.
“I was endangering my teammates? Now look what happened,” Rodgers said.
He accused officials of suppressing early treatments, lying about the origins of COVID-19 and hiding statistics that could fuel vaccine hesitancy.
He also tied Fauci’s pandemic role to an earlier era.
“Tony Fauci pushing his medicine, just like he did back in the 80s, and now he has an autopen pardon and you can’t answer one question? Not even your name?”
Asked how he felt about his stance, Rodgers did not sound chastened.
“I feel great about it. I told you I’ll be on the right side of history,” he said.