Bryan Woolston/AP
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers reportedly shared conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting with a CNN host he had just met.
In an article posted on CNN’s website Wednesday, authors Pamela Brown and Jake Tapper said that Rodgers – who is reportedly on independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vice presidential shortlist – brought up the 2012 killings of 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Connecticut.
Brown was covering the 2013 Kentucky Derby when she met Rodgers, who played for the Green Bay Packers at the time. Upon learning Brown worked for CNN, Rodgers criticized the news media and brought up the Sandy Hook shooting:
Hearing that she was a journalist with CNN, Rodgers immediately began attacking the news media for covering up important stories. Rodgers brought up the tragic killing of 20 children and 6 adults by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School, claiming it was actually a government inside job and the media was intentionally ignoring it.
When Brown questioned him on the evidence to show this very real shooting was staged, Rodgers began sharing various theories that have been disproven numerous times. Such conspiracy theories were also later at the center of lawsuits brought by victims’ families when they sued conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on the matter…
Brown recalls Rodgers asking her if she thought it was off that there were men in black in the woods by the school, falsely claiming those men were actually government operatives. Brown found the encounter disturbing.
Brown and Tapper reported that in a separate encounter involving another, unidentified person, Rodgers espoused similar views and said the victims “never existed” and “were all actors”:
CNN has spoken to another person with a similar story. This person, to whom CNN has granted anonymity so as to avoid harassment, recalled that several years ago, Rodgers claimed, “Sandy Hook never happened…All those children never existed. They were all actors.”
When asked about the grieving parents, the source recalled Rodgers saying, “They’re all making it up. They’re all actors.”
Rodgers went on to delve into some of the darker caverns of the false conspiracy theory. This person found the encounter disturbing.
Rodgers is no stranger to conspiracy theories. In 2022, former Packers backup quarterback DeShone Kizer said Rodgers asked him about the Sept. 11 attacks.
“The first thing that comes out of Aaron Rodgers’s mouth was, ‘You believe in 9/11?’” Kizer said. “‘What? Do I believe in 9/11? Yeah, why wouldn’t I?’”
Rodgers responded by telling him to “read up on that.”
The quarterback has also railed against the Covid-19 vaccine, prompting some to speculate he is the favorite to be the anti-vaxx Kennedy’s veep choice.
