Pat McAfee had sleepless nights during Aaron Rodgers-Jimmy Kimmel mess: ‘Maybe I’m f–king this up’

In one of his most candid comments yet about the drama that occurred on his show between Aaron Rodgers and Jimmy Kimmel, Pat McAfee revealed that there were nights that he “couldn’t sleep” because he was worried he wasn’t doing the right thing on his show. 

Before the spat with the ABC late-night host, Rodgers’ weekly spots on “The Pat McAfee Show” became headline-making news due to the NFL star’s controversial comments about the COVID-19 vaccine and other topics. 

The Post reported in October that the Jets quarterback was being paid seven figures to appear each week.

But things came to a head earlier this year after Rodgers implied that Kimmel’s name could appear on a list connected to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“The block got real hot for about three weeks,” McAfee said during his appearance this week on Showtime’s “All The Smoke” podcast. 

The ex-punter said he had heard people already predicting that his show’s time on ESPN would be short-lived when “Aaron started a war with Jimmy Kimmel on our show” and due to Rodgers’ attacks on vaccines and Dr. Anthony Fauci. 

The constant controversies around Rodgers’ comments on McAfee’s show certainly forced him to pause and think about what was going on, the sports media personality said, especially since he didn’t feel he was as knowledgeable about some of the topics that the QB was speaking about during his appearances. 

“There was a lot of times where I’m like, ‘Do I deserve to have this platform if I don’t know everything about everything?’” McAfee said. “So this s–t can’t happen and people don’t end up hating us. … Because there was nights I couldn’t sleep. Like I’m like, ‘maybe I am f–king this up completely.’” 

McAfee also acknowledged he was well aware of the vitriol coming his way because he would allow Rodgers to say anything. 

He told hosts podcast Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes that he was “swore at in like 30 different languages” because Rodgers wasn’t vaccinated and that McAfee was called “the worst human on Earth.” 

McAfee said he sought out the advice of Shannon Sharpe, who, in addition to being on ESPN, also hosts the “Club Shay Shay” podcast that has been known to make some waves. 

After talking with him during Super Bowl week, he realized that he was just having a conversation with Rodgers and that the audience was “in real-time learning about him completely.” 

“I think we’re just a different style of programming,” McAfee concluded. “We’re a conversationalist. We have no idea where we’re headed. We don’t have scheduled questions. I don’t prep anybody when they’re coming on. I don’t have a list of questions. I’m just having a conversation with people and boy, it has certainly got us into some s–t.

“But it has also got us some magic.”