Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers blasted President Joe Biden and his “fake White House” in an anti-vaccine rant that also seemed to question the 2020 election result.
“When the president of the United States says, ‘This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,’ it’s because him and his constituents, which — I don’t know how there are any if you watch any of his attempts at public speaking — but I guess he got 81 million votes,” the NFL star told ESPN before his season ended in a playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday.
“But when you say stuff like that, and then you have the CDC, which — how do you even trust them — but then they come out and talk about 75% of the COVID deaths have at least four comorbidities,” he continued. “And you still have this fake White House set saying that this is the pandemic of the unvaccinated. That’s not helping the conversation.”
Off the field, Rodgers seemed on a roll last year. He announced his engagement to “Big Little Lies” star Shailene Woodley and had a 10-episode run as guest-host of “Jeopardy!”
But he fumbled on the vaccine. After lying to reporters about his vaccination status, he caught COVID-19. And in December, when President Joe Biden encountered a woman wearing a Packers jacket during a visit to tornado-ravaged Kentucky, he urged her to tell Rodgers to get the vaccine.
Rodgers’ remarks to ESPN suggest he’s still holding a grudge. And he missed the mark in his complaint about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC statistic he mentioned focused on the rare deaths of people who are vaccinated and had nothing to do with coronavirus fatalities in general. The CDC study noted that among 1.2 million fully vaccinated people, 36 died after contracting COVID-19 ― and 28 of those had at least four risk factors.
Rodgers has spread misleading and false information before about the vaccine, and he’s proudly noted that he sought medical advice from podcast comedian Joe Rogan, who also has spread misinformation.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.