{"id":258959,"date":"2026-08-04T13:36:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T13:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/258959\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T13:36:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T13:36:24","slug":"steelers-release-statement-after-aaron-rodgers-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/258959\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Release Statement After Aaron Rodgers&#8217; Comments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">PITTSBURGH &#8212; The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/steelers\/onsi\/aaron-rodgers-tells-pittsburgh-steelers-fans-what-already-knew\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback<\/a> was the center of attention in the sports world this week after making some controversial comments on the Pat McAfee Show. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">Rodgers repeatedly called Fauci a &#8220;coward&#8221; throughout the show. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">&#8220;I&#8217;m going to plead the fifth,&#8221; Rodgers said. &#8220;Like that absolute coward, Tony Fauci. Absolute coward. Are you kidding me? You got a pardon, and you pleaded over a hundred times at the White House?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7b\">&#8220;&#8221;How much time did the network spend on that? How much time did they spend on my responses every week? On my vaccination status? On Taylor and Travis&#8217; wedding? Did they do even a minute on Tony Fauci,&#8221; he added. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7e\">He then turned his attention to ESPN, calling out the network for not covering the Dianna Russini and Mike Vrabel scandal. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7h\">&#8220;Then there is another scandal this offseason involving a voter for MVP, for coach of the year &#8212; how much time did your network spend? Where&#8217;s your camera?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7k\">Because of his comments, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wtae.com\/article\/aaron-rodgers-fauci-comments-steelers-training-camp\/73336735\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Steelers gave WTAE&#8217;s Andrew Stockey<\/a> a comment about the matter. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7n\">&#8220;Discussions around culture and politics can bring differing perspectives, and our players are entitled to their own personal views,&#8221; Steelers Director of Communications Burt Lauten said in an email. &#8220;With respect to that, I am certain there are a variety of opinions on many topics within our locker room.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01kz6913a6dv19maqhth.jpg\" alt=\"Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers\" title=\"Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers\" width=\"360\" height=\"240\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7x\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jul 29, 2026; Latrobe, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) participates in a practice session at training camp at Saint Vincent College. Mandatory Credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"81\">Rodgers has remained pretty under the radar this year, keeping himself out of the public eye as much as possible. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"84\">That may be changing, though, as he told the McAfee show that he&#8217;d like to make appearances a little more than he&#8217;s been. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"87\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t get to do this show as much as I would like to do,&#8221; Rodgers said. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8a\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/steelers\/onsi\/every-open-starting-job-pittsburgh-steelers-training-camp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Steelers<\/a> seem comfortable with the way Rodgers handles himself, and with his history of speaking his mind, it&#8217;s no surprise comments like these were made. Pittsburgh itself will probably let this pass over and not say anything about the situation, but if Rodgers is headed back to the McAfee Show, maybe there are a few more times this season where the team will be releasing a statement about his comments. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8d\">As for now, the attention at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/steelers\/onsi\/pittsburgh-steelers-superstar-duo-developing-something-special\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Saint Vincent College is on football.<\/a> And for Rodgers, it&#8217;s about developing an offense that he can lead to a Super Bowl in his final run in the NFL. Whether or not that run includes the McAfee Show will be determined later on. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8g\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/steelers\/onsi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Make sure to bookmark Steelers On SI,\u00a0and find our podcast All Steelers Talk on YouTube\u00a0or anywhere you listen!<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH &#8212; The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback was the center of attention in the sports world this week after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-258959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}