ESPN distances itself from Aaron Rodgers' 'dumb and factually inaccurate joke' about Jimmy Kimmel being named on the list of Jeffrey Epstein's associates: 'It should never have happened'

Rodgers made the controversial remark while on the Pat McAfee show this weekKimmel reacted furiously, branding Rodgers an 'a**hole' and threatening to sueDailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news 

ESPN has admitted regret over the ‘dumb and factually inaccurate’ remark made by Aaron Rodgers about Jimmy Kimmel on this week’s Pat McAfee Show.

Rodgers, making one of his weekly Tuesday appearances on McAfee’s sports talk show, sparked outrage by suggesting Kimmel will be one of the names included on the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged associates.

The comedian has reacted furiously to his comments and threatened legal action, with McAfee’s ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith urging Rodgers to come out and apologize.

McAfee himself addressed the outrage on Wednesday, claiming the New York Jets quarterback was ‘just s***-talking Kimmel’, who he has a long history of tension with.

Yet according to Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy, ESPN has distanced itself from Rodgers’ comments and admitted he never should have made them in the first place.

ESPN has admitted regret over the ‘dumb and factually inaccurate’ remark made by Aaron Rodgers about Jimmy Kimmel

Rodgers sparked outrage on the Pat McAfee Show by suggesting Kimmel will be one of the names included on the list of alleged associates of Jeffrey Epstein (pictured)

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

Mike Foss, the network’s senior vice president, is quoted as saying: ‘Aaron made a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel. It should never have happened. We all realized that in the moment.’

Foss, however, believes Rodgers will continue to appear on the show going forward. ‘The show will continue to evolve. It wouldn’t surprise me if Aaron’s role evolves with it.’

Kimmel took to social media after hearing Rodgers’ remark on Tuesday, branding the NFL star an ‘a**hole’ and threatening to sue him.

He wrote to Rodgers on X: ‘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.’

During his latest show on Friday, McAfee claimed live on air that he believes someone is trying to ‘sabotage’ him from inside ESPN.

‘There are some people actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN,’ he said. ‘More specifically, I believe Norby Williamson [ESPN’s executive editor and head of event and studio production] is the guy attempting to sabotage our program.’

Rodgers initially started outlining a conspiracy theory about the colors of the NFL’s Super Bowl emblems and predicting the teams who will play the big game that season on the McAfee show.

The panel were left baffled by his long-winded explanation, and co-host AJ Hawk interrupted to jokingly ask if it involved the Epstein list.

Rodgers seized on the opportunity to slam longtime nemesis Kimmel, saying: ‘There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, who are hoping that list doesn’t come out.’

Rodgers joked he was ready to celebrate the release of the list while on the McAfee show

McAfee then joked the quarterback had been ‘waiting in his wine cellar’ for the release of the court documents.

‘I’ll tell you what, if that list comes out, I will definitely be popping some sort of bottle,’ Rodgers said.

Rodgers has drawn widespread criticism for his jibe, with Fox broadcaster Nick Wright calling him ‘the voice in the sports world of some of the most deranged, unhinged people’.

He said: ‘The story is Aaron Rodgers, who undeniably is one of the most famous athletes in America today, arguably the single-most powerful player in the single-most powerful league we have, has crossed the rubicon from wacky conspiracy theory guy to malignant force in the culture and nobody has seemed to have batted an eye.

‘If Steph Curry went on “The Dan Patrick Show”  and just casually said, implied that Julia Roberts murdered somebody and seemed serious about it, I don’t think the story would be, “Is this going to affect Dan’s relationship with Julia’s movie studio?”

‘I think the story would be, “What the hell happened to Steph Curry?”

‘Rodgers has become the voice in the sports world of some of the most deranged, unhinged people in our populous.’