Aaron Rodgers criticizes the “culture of exclusion” for those who think differently

Aaron Rodgers is a genius on the football field. When the quarterback tosses the ball through the air, there is more power and precision than any other playmaker in the National Football League (NFL). For more than a decade, Rodgers has been the superstar of the Green Bay Packers, and in 2011 he won the Super Bowl with the team from the US state of Wisconsin. Last season he was named the league’s most valuable player for the third time.

There is no doubt about his exceptional sporting position, as was shown by the top game on Sunday evening at Green Bay in Kansas City. It ended with a 13-7 win for the Chiefs. Experts agree that this was mainly because the Packers missed Rodgers – the 37-year-old veteran missed a game in the NFL for the first time since 2017. The reason for his failure has led to major debates in the US in the past few days, because Rodgers was infected with Covid-19 – the superstar was not vaccinated.

Now there is no vaccination requirement in the NFL, and Rodgers is by no means the only player who has not had a vaccination. As recently as September, only around a third of the 32 regular quarterbacks had publicly announced that they had been vaccinated. The case of Aaron Rodgers, however, is a very special one, because in August he replied to a reporter’s question about his vaccination status: “Yes, I am immunized.” It has now become clear to everyone that he means something completely different – and has it NFL struggled to explain.

There are already the first teams to publicly complain that the league applies two standards to the corona rules. Normally, unvaccinated players at their clubs have to wear a mask all the time – apart from the games themselves. They are also not allowed to get together in groups with more than three colleagues. Rodgers is critical of these regulations and regularly refrained from using mouth and nose protection at press conferences.

Rodgers stated that he was not an out-of-the-box thinker or corona denier

In his opinion, it is unnecessary to wear a mask if he is tested daily and only speaks to people who have been vaccinated. “It doesn’t make any sense to me,” he said on former NFL pro Patrick McAfee’s podcast last Friday. There he also declared that he was not a lateral thinker or a corona denier: “I take all of this very seriously, but I have made a decision that is best for my body.”

Instead of a vaccination, he had undergone homeopathic treatment, the effect had been scientifically proven, and therefore it was not a lie when he spoke of immunization. However, the NFL rejected his application to be considered a vaccinated player a few weeks ago. Still, Rodgers sometimes acted like he was. Possibly also because he was repeatedly encouraged for his critical stance.

He reported on a meeting with an expert in the Packers’ training camp who criticized the team’s low vaccination rate. “I questioned a few things he said and a lot of coaches and players thanked me for that,” said Rodgers. At the game in Kansas City on Sunday, a noticeable number of Rodgers jerseys for an away game by Green Bay were in the audience. One fan even held a banner up to the camera that said, “We’re sticking with Rodgers.”

There are many vaccine skeptics in the USA as in Germany, and their position is repeatedly questioned by authorities. However, you do not do anything forbidden if you forego the syringe with an anti-corona agent. Rodgers, however, caused additional confusion with statements that he would not tolerate the vaccines from Biontech or Moderna:

“I have an allergy to an active ingredient in the mRNA vaccines,” he said, and Johnson & Johnson was out of the question for him because of the unclear side effects. In addition, he would have concerns about his fertility if he was vaccinated.

According to the current state of research, these doubts cannot be scientifically proven, but for Rodgers there are other reasons for not having a vaccination: “I believe that I can decide for myself what happens to my body,” said he and criticized a supposed “culture of exclusion” for those who think differently.

He also claims to have seen a UFO and discussed chemtrails with colleagues

Rodgers also thinks about things that are generally considered a bit crazy. His former teammate Seneca Wallace reported on discussions about chemtrails and the cancers caused by them, Rodgers also claims to have seen a UFO – it was orange and moved from left to right. Until a week ago, many people could have laughed heartily at such stories from the mouth of the NFL idol. Meanwhile, some of his fans are probably wondering how much madness there is in the genius of Aaron Rodgers.

And they will hope that Rodgers will come back to what he does best: bring the football to the teammate with confidence. Allegedly he’s feeling better now, he wants to be ready for action again next weekend.