Aaron Rodgers has explained why he gave an interview on a Milwaukee radio station in 2013 in which he declared he was not gay.
Years before he had a weekly spot on “The Pat McAfee Show”, Rodgers used to do a “Tuesdays With Aaron” segment with Jason Wilde on ESPN Milwaukee in which the former Packers quarterback was often candid and unguarded.
As Rodgers himself alluded to in a spot with Wilde more than a decade ago, rumors had percolated early in his career that he might be gay.
In the new book by former Post columnist Ian O’Connor, “Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers“, the quarterback shed some light on why he brought up these rumors himself and denied them.
In the radio spot, Rodgers was talking about the downsides of being a celebrity and the “crazy rumors that swirl around from time to time that get silly.”
Wilde, playing coy, said, “I have no idea what you could be referring to.”
But then, after a pause, he asked: “Oh, you mean the Aaron Rodgers–is-gay story?”
After a quick laugh, Rodgers confirmed that this was what he was referring to.
“So, you’re aware?” Wilde asked. “You saw this out there?”
Rodgers answered, “Yeah, I’m just going to say, I’m not gay. I really, really like women. That’s all I can say about that. There’s always going to be silly stuff out there in the media, and you can’t worry too much about [it], and I don’t. … I think there should be, professional is professional, and personal is personal. And that’s just how I’m going to keep it.”
In addition to hosting radio, Wilde has covered the Packers for many years, with his reporting now appearing in the Wisconsin State Journal.
He was one of the key chroniclers of Rodgers’ career in Green Bay.
This radio spot was before Rodgers dated celebrities like Olivia Munn and Danica Patrick.
For his book, O’Connor asked Rodgers why he decided to give this answer to Wilde.
“I think I was upset at the framing [of the rumor] because it was meant to shame the idea of being gay, and I have so many friends that are gay in the community,” Rodgers told O’Connor.
“And right before that, [Wilde] and I actually have talked about this multiple times, and I said, ‘I want to go after them, the people saying this.’ Not in relation to me, because I could give a shit what they thought about me, but that they’re using this to shame, like it’s a bad thing to be gay. Like it’s a negative.
“That’s what I wanted to go after. And [Wilde] said, ‘You should just let it go and just say no.’ I wish I had done the former because that’s how I really felt. I’m like, say anything you want about me, but do you understand these people are using this to shame the idea of being gay? That’s just disrespectful to all my friends who are in the community who don’t believe that it’s a choice. They were making it seem like you’re shaming people for being gay, when a lot of them, if you ask them, they didn’t ask for this life. ‘This is who I am.’ So, I wished I would have handled it that way, and I don’t blame Jason. We’ve talked it out.”
Rodgers joined the Jets last season after 18 years with the Packers.