Might Aaron Rodgers' shot at Jimmy Kimmel prove a fatal fumble for QB's career in punditry?

Any question whether ESPN took Aaron Rodgers' latest tryst with misinformation seriously disappeared the instant Pat McAfee appeared on his eponymous talk show on Wednesday, offering a half-baked apology for Rodgers' antics the previous day.

Rodgers, you'll remember, used his weekly appearance on McAfee's show, for which he makes seven figures annually, to discuss the pending release of court papers related to Jeffrey Epstein, the famous financier and convicted sex trafficker. If a full roll call of Epstein's celebrity friends becomes public, their reputations may never recover. And if you're named as an associate of a man who made money procuring underaged sex workers, good luck convincing the public you hung out with Epstein for any other reason.

Rodgers, the 40-year-old New York Jets quarterback, giddily predicted that Jimmy Kimmel, the late night talk show host, would be outed as an Epstein crony.

"There's a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, really hoping that doesn't come out," Rodgers said. "If that list comes out, I definitely will be popping some sort of bottle."

That's borderline defamation. If you work in the media, you understand that. And if you don't, it became clear when Kimmel responded to Rodgers on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"I've not met, flown with, visited, or had any contact whatsoever with Epstein," Kimmel wrote. "Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court."

Dear Aasshole: 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. Your