Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers complained the "woke mob" is trying to "cancel" him after it was revealed he's not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Rodgers appeared on The Pat McAfee Show Friday after reports emerged that he has not been vaccinated against COVID-19, despite seeming to imply in an interview he was. The NFL star declared he's now in the "crosshairs of the woke mob" and wanted to clarify his stance on vaccines before the "final nail gets put in my cancel culture casket."
Rodgers proceeded to defend his status as unvaccinated, claiming he put "a lot of time and energy and research" into the decision and has an allergy to an ingredient in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. While insisting he's not "anti-vaxx," he questioned why "people are still getting COVID" if the "vaccine is so great" and expressed concern over whether the vaccines can cause fertility issues, even though the CDC says there is no evidence of this.
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"[The media is] trying to shame and out and cancel all of us non-vaccinated people," he bemoaned.
At one point, Rodgers quoted Martin Luther King Jr. to defend his position, saying he has "a moral obligation to object to unjust rules and rules that make no sense." He also incorrectly claimed "every member of the left" was against vaccines prior to President Biden's election last year.
Rodgers says he's now 48 hours in to battling COVID-19, and he's taking advice on treatment from controverisal podcast host Joe Rogan. "I've been doing a lot of the stuff he recommended in his podcasts and on the phone to me," Rodgers said of Rogan.
Rodgers quickly drew criticism for his comments during the interview, with NBC News reporter Ben Collins writing, "It would be impossible to draw up a more stereotypical antivaxxer argument than the one being outlined by Aaron Rodgers today."
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