Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, sidelined by Covid-19, acknowledged Tuesday that he "misled some people" about his vaccination status.
In an explosive interview last week on “The Pat McAfee Show” on SiriusXM, Rodgers confirmed that he is unvaccinated, claimed that he is allergic to vaccines and that he has taken ivermectin, said he is the victim of a “woke mob” and acknowledged that he has been seeking Covid-19 advice from podcaster Joe Rogan.
"I made some comments that people might have felt were misleading, and to anybody who felt misled by those comments, I take full responsibility for those comments," Rodgers said Tuesday on "The Pat McAfee Show.”
Later in the interview, Rodgers, 37, the reigning NFL MVP, acknowledged having made misleading statements.
"I shared an opinion that is polarizing. I get it," Rodgers said. “And I misled some people about my status, which I take full responsibility of, those comments."
Rodgers, however, didn't back down from comments that now threaten his lucrative endorsement deals.
"But in the end, I have to stay true to who I am and what I’m about, and I stand behind the things that I said," he said. "And I have a ton of empathy for people who have been going through the worst part of this pandemic."
Rodgers could be back on the field Sunday when the Packers play the Seattle Seahawks.
"I’m excited about feeling better. I'm excited about moving forward and hopefully getting back with my team and getting back to doing what I do best, and that's playing ball," he said.
"It’s been tough to be away from it. I've been obviously dealing with the Covid, and I feel like I’m on the other side of it, thankfully, and thankful to still be able to have something to look forward to this weekend," he said.
Before the season, Rodgers responded in the affirmative when he was asked whether he was vaccinated, saying he had been "immunized."
After it was revealed last week that Rodgers hadn't been vaccinated and that he had perhaps failed to meet NFL protocols for unvaccinated players, he was roundly criticized and called a liar.
"Because that’s what you did, Aaron. You lied to everyone," Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw told pregame viewers on "Fox NFL Sunday."
The NFL is investigating whether Rodgers or the Packers violated Covid-19 protocols.
In his interview last week, Rodgers invoked the memory of the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., claiming that King would have agreed that he had a “moral obligation to object to unjust rules and rules that make no sense.”
Nearly 760,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the U.S., according to a running tally by NBC News.
