Name: Aaron Rodgers Clears the Air on "Immunized" Controversy
Uploaded: 2022-08-28T01:29:27.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Aaron Rodgers Clears the Air on "Immunized" Controversy' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-08-28. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Aaron Rodgers Clears the Air on "Immunized" Controversy' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-08-28. Transcript available.

The Joe Rogan Experience.
Yeah, it's been an interesting year or so, but man, it's been a good year.
What was the craziness like?
Like when all the people were calling you a plague rat?
I mean, it's you and the, how do you say the guy's name, the tennis player?
Novak Djokovic.
Yeah, Djokovic.
I mean, we talk about the healthiest human beings on earth, professional
athletes.
We should have been playing in the US Open now.
Yeah, I know.
Because of this.
Which is bananas.
The guy's already had COVID, recovered from it.
I think he had it twice.
Yeah.
And he's one of the best athletes in the world.
I mean, the guy's body's in tip-top condition.
Tennis players are incredible fitness.
Incredible.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And no, you can't come.
You didn't follow the rules.
It defies science, defies logic.
It doesn't make any sense.
None of it makes sense, especially at this stage of the pandemic, air quotes.
I mean, what the fuck, man?
What was it like for you?
It was really difficult, for sure, and a lot of different reasons.
I think I knew that this was coming down, that at some point I was going to
talk about my status because I'd chosen to not get vaxxed for reasons that you
talked about on your show and I talked about.
We should just say it because it's kind of important.
You're allergic to a medication or a part of the vaccine.
Right.
What is it called?
PEG, polyethylene glycol.
And so I did my research.
No, I think, typically speaking, because I'm healthy and I take care of myself,
getting vaccinated was not on the top of my list.
But, you know, I wanted to look into it because everybody was doing it and
talking about it and trying to be safe.
And I wanted to make sure I was, you know, doing my part, if that's what was
necessary, to keep myself safe and my loved ones safe and my teammates safe.
And I looked into it.
And at the time, I went on the CDC website and they specifically said, you know,
if you're allergic to PEG, we do not recommend you get vaccinated with the mRNA
vaccinations.
So the only other one available was Johnson & Johnson.
And it had just got pulled at the time for blood clots.
So I looked into other options, which included an immunization process through
a holistic doctor, and I researched and talked to probably a dozen different MDs
and found a protocol that I felt like was the best available.
And what's involved in that protocol?
It involved basically a couple-month process of taking a diluted strand of the
virus.
So I was doing basically what the vaccine is supposed to do without...
How did they do that?
I don't know the exact way that they did that, but it was...
Was it by injection?
No.
No, it was oral.
And how are they even getting a diluted strand of the virus?
I don't know that exactly or want to get into that exactly, I don't think.
But there was hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of people that I knew in
this circle that were using, that had been doing this to protect ourselves.
Because we were thinking, hey, look, for me, I didn't want to risk anaphylactic
shock or any type of clotting associated with the vaccine.
So that was my only option, either do nothing or do this process.
And I felt like that this was the best way to protect myself and my teammates,
and that the NFL would understand and maybe grant me a waiver.
Because one of the most difficult parts about the whole process was that there
was clearly two classes of player at the facility.
There was the vaxxed and the unvaxxed.
And the vaxxed had full privileges.
They tested once every two weeks.
They had full privileges on the road.
They could go out to dinner on the road.
They could go to a concert in town.
They could go to a comedy show that was in town.
They could be at any place they wanted to and live life normally.
Non-vaxxed, fully masked, zero privileges on the road, could not go into
establishments with more than 15 people.
You could not be around more than three individuals from the team outside the
facility.
All these different, what I think now we all realize were crazy policies.
And that's what actually got me into trouble was that I attended a Halloween
party in a 10,000 square foot warehouse with 18 other individuals, all fully
vaccinated, and myself not vaxxed.
And was eventually fined for that, ended up getting COVID from a vaccinated
teammate of mine who contracted COVID and spread it.
And that's where it gets a little bit crazy.
And I told this story, I think on the McAfee show, but I said, when I came to
camp, they knew I was not vaccinated.
Right. So you had to, you had to submit a vaccination card that went to the
system with the NFL and obviously didn't have one.
So I was given, we were given wristbands too.
So everybody in the facility knew who was vaxxed and who wasn't vaxxed.
Vaxxed was green.
Non-vaxxed was yellow.
So already it's weird, you know, like wearing your colors out there.
And I think, you know, to do an aside here, there was a lot of shaming involved
in it.
There was a lot of public shaming that was attempted to coerce people to get
vaccinated.
Because not only are you wearing a yellow wristband, you're the only ones
wearing masks.
And you have to work out by yourself.
You can't work out with your teammates.
So no drills, nothing?
Well, you could at practice, but weight room stuff or our weight room every day,
we're working out on the side.
Just the seven of us not vaxxed.
Is it because practice is outside and the weight room is inside?
Supposedly, yeah.
But so they knew my vaccination status from the start.
As did all my teammates.
There was a lot of talk about I endangered my teammates.
And, you know, I lied to my teammates and my team.
From day one that I returned, which was July 25th, probably, of 2021, they knew
where I was at.
Everybody did.
Also on the side, I had an appeal going with the NFL.
Because I said, look, here's my health issues.
Here's the protocol I went through.
Here's the research behind it.
I gave them 500 pages of research from a number of people that put together
case-reviewed studies around homeopathy and immunizations and safety in them
and also the efficacy of them.
And then I had a conversation with the league.
And the league said in this conversation, this is what I knew that my appeal
was definitely not going to happen, was they said, it's not possible for a
vaccinated player.
A person, sorry, to contract or transmit COVID if they've been vaccinated.
And I said, you've got to be kidding me.
Because I showed up and five people, non-players, five people fully vaxxed are
out with COVID.
So what are you talking about?
And he said, you're a conspiracy theorist.
Oh, boy.
And I said, no, I just think I'm a realist.
I'm just looking at the facts here.
What point in the pandemic was this?
This was like beginning of August, 2021.
So by then, they had already known that breakthrough infections were real.
By then, it had already, I mean, the vaccines started being rolled out.
Was it, when, what was the first year?
It was January of 2020, where they started getting them to older people, right?
No, no, that's when it started.
Right, I'm sorry.
January of 2021, rather.
Sorry.
January of 2021, they started giving out to older people, wasn't that?
They started rolling out in March and April, because that's when I was going
through the process of researching and looking into what I could do to protect
myself, having the, you know, the allergy of that.
And by August, people were still, they were already getting it, even though
they had been vaccinated.
So this was not, you know.
It wasn't talked about, I don't think, a whole lot.
Right, but it was four months.
But it was definitely happening.
So it was definitely happening.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I had only known one person at that time, somewhere around April, that had been
vaccinated and also got COVID.
And I just thought it was an aberration.
And I didn't, based on what I saw in the first few weeks at the facility.
And that's why I thought that there was an opportunity.
But it was difficult because we were separated.
There was a whole other situation that was going on that, you know, also was
going on in the rest of society,
is that my non-vaxed teammates who were on the bubble, right?
So 53 guys make the active roster, 16 on the practice squad, so 69 guys on the
squad.
There's 90 in camp, right?
So of the, I said seven, I think it was about 10 guys not vaxed, only a few of
us were guaranteed roster spots,
like we were going to be on the team.
And there's a lot of bubble guys.
The general managers, and there was talk around the league how general managers
were not going to keep bubble non-vaxed players, right?
So they were already up against it.
Not only did non-vax players have a harder chance of making the squad, but they
also had an almost 0% opportunity to get a workout afterwards.
So if you get cut, right, and the season starts, every Tuesday during the
football season,
most teams will bring in anywhere from 5 to 15 guys for workouts just to see
who's out there.
Is there any players that can add to the roster?
So if you weren't vaxed, you had a very low percentage, not just of keeping a
job,
but even getting a job opportunity, like, you know, a workout, which is wild.
And so after this conversation with the league, I knew that my appeal was going
away.
And they were doing this, I call it a witch hunt, you know, where they were
asking every single player,
are you vaccinated?
You know, they're asking a bunch of big quarterbacks.
And some guys were saying, you know, it's, you know, you know, it's personal or
whatever.
You know, I didn't want to talk about their status.
And it almost guaranteed you weren't vaccinated, right?
So then they were getting ripped and certain guys said, yes, I'm vaccinated.
And, you know, then they tried to get them to say shit about their teammates,
you know,
who weren't vaccinated, like dogged their teammates out.
So I've been ready the entire time for this question and had thought about how
I wanted to answer it.
And I had come to the conclusion, I'm going to say, I've been immunized.
And if there's a follow-up, then talk about my process.
But thought there's a possibility that I say I'm immunized.
Maybe they understand what that means.
Maybe they don't.
Maybe they follow up.
They didn't follow up.
So then I go the season, them thinking, some of them, that I was vaccinated,
right?
Because the only follow-up they asked was basically asking me to rip on my
teammates.
Like, what do you say to your teammates who aren't vaccinated?
Like, what kind of example do you feel like you're setting, you know, to your
teammates who aren't vaccinated?
And I said, hey, it's everybody's own decision with their body.
And we're super healthy individuals.
We take care of ourselves.
We understand what goes in our bodies.
And I don't have any judgment on any decision that a guy makes with their own
body, right?
But I knew at some point if I contracted COVID or if word got out because it's
the NFL and there's leaks everywhere, it was possible I'd have to answer the
questions.
And then sure enough, I contract COVID in the beginning of November, end of
October.
And that's when the shitstorm hit because now I'm a liar.
I'm, you know, endangering, you know, the community, my teammates, all these
people.
And, you know, the attempted takedown of me and, you know, my word and my
integrity began.
But so that was that was difficult.
But I will say, and I'm thankful to be on this show, like, I really appreciate
you and you helping me out during that time.
I reached out to you, I think, beginning of the season, I feel like, and just
said, hey, because you had talked about in your podcast a little bit.
You'd had some, you know, controversial, maybe less controversial now people on
there talking about.
Quite a bit less controversial now.
Talking about their, you know, their people, experts in the field talking about,
you know, their own ideas about COVID.
And, you know, you helped me with a, you know, a game plan to be ready in case
I did get COVID.
And I followed it to a T.
And when I got COVID, you know, within 36 hours, I was, you know, symptom free
and feeling amazing.
But the protocols was, you're off for 10 days.
So I missed a game.
We lost a football game.
I came back, had to answer a ton of questions about it.
Obviously, I had my, you know, basically, I lost, you know, the majority of
allies I thought I had in the media.
The good thing is, it drew a real line in the sand.
And everybody who wanted to jump on me and trashed me did and showed their true
colors.
And very few people, you know, kind of in the media at least, stuck by me.

Aaron Rodgers Clears the Air on "Immunized" Controversy

The Joe Rogan Experience.
Yeah, it's been an interesting year or so, but man, it's been a good year.
What was the craziness like?
Like when all the people were calling you a plague rat?
I mean, it's you and the, how do you say the guy's name, the tennis player?
Novak Djokovic.
Yeah, Djokovic.
I mean, we talk about the healthiest human beings on earth, professional
athletes.
We should have been playing in the US Open now.
Yeah, I know.
Because of this.
Which is bananas.
The guy's already had COVID, recovered from it.
I think he had it twice.
Yeah.
And he's one of the best athletes in the world.
I mean, the guy's body's in tip-top condition.
Tennis players are incredible fitness.
Incredible.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And no, you can't come.
You didn't follow the rules.
It defies science, defies logic.
It doesn't make any sense.
None of it makes sense, especially at this stage of the pandemic, air quotes.
I mean, what the fuck, man?
What was it like for you?
It was really difficult, for sure, and a lot of different reasons.
I think I knew that this was coming down, that at some point I was going to
talk about my status because I'd chosen to not get vaxxed for reasons that you
talked about on your show and I talked about.
We should just say it because it's kind of important.
You're allergic to a medication or a part of the vaccine.
Right.
What is it called?
PEG, polyethylene glycol.
And so I did my research.
No, I think, typically speaking, because I'm healthy and I take care of myself,
getting vaccinated was not on the top of my list.
But, you know, I wanted to look into it because everybody was doing it and
talking about it and trying to be safe.
And I wanted to make sure I was, you know, doing my part, if that's what was
necessary, to keep myself safe and my loved ones safe and my teammates safe.
And I looked into it.
And at the time, I went on the CDC website and they specifically said, you know,
if you're allergic to PEG, we do not recommend you get vaccinated with the mRNA
vaccinations.
So the only other one available was Johnson & Johnson.
And it had just got pulled at the time for blood clots.
So I looked into other options, which included an immunization process through
a holistic doctor, and I researched and talked to probably a dozen different MDs
and found a protocol that I felt like was the best available.
And what's involved in that protocol?
It involved basically a couple-month process of taking a diluted strand of the
virus.
So I was doing basically what the vaccine is supposed to do without...
How did they do that?
I don't know the exact way that they did that, but it was...
Was it by injection?
No.
No, it was oral.
And how are they even getting a diluted strand of the virus?
I don't know that exactly or want to get into that exactly, I don't think.
But there was hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of people that I knew in
this circle that were using, that had been doing this to protect ourselves.
Because we were thinking, hey, look, for me, I didn't want to risk anaphylactic
shock or any type of clotting associated with the vaccine.
So that was my only option, either do nothing or do this process.
And I felt like that this was the best way to protect myself and my teammates,
and that the NFL would understand and maybe grant me a waiver.
Because one of the most difficult parts about the whole process was that there
was clearly two classes of player at the facility.
There was the vaxxed and the unvaxxed.
And the vaxxed had full privileges.
They tested once every two weeks.
They had full privileges on the road.
They could go out to dinner on the road.
They could go to a concert in town.
They could go to a comedy show that was in town.
They could be at any place they wanted to and live life normally.
Non-vaxxed, fully masked, zero privileges on the road, could not go into
establishments with more than 15 people.
You could not be around more than three individuals from the team outside the
facility.
All these different, what I think now we all realize were crazy policies.
And that's what actually got me into trouble was that I attended a Halloween
party in a 10,000 square foot warehouse with 18 other individuals, all fully
vaccinated, and myself not vaxxed.
And was eventually fined for that, ended up getting COVID from a vaccinated
teammate of mine who contracted COVID and spread it.
And that's where it gets a little bit crazy.
And I told this story, I think on the McAfee show, but I said, when I came to
camp, they knew I was not vaccinated.
Right. So you had to, you had to submit a vaccination card that went to the
system with the NFL and obviously didn't have one.
So I was given, we were given wristbands too.
So everybody in the facility knew who was vaxxed and who wasn't vaxxed.
Vaxxed was green.
Non-vaxxed was yellow.
So already it's weird, you know, like wearing your colors out there.
And I think, you know, to do an aside here, there was a lot of shaming involved
in it.
There was a lot of public shaming that was attempted to coerce people to get
vaccinated.
Because not only are you wearing a yellow wristband, you're the only ones
wearing masks.
And you have to work out by yourself.
You can't work out with your teammates.
So no drills, nothing?
Well, you could at practice, but weight room stuff or our weight room every day,
we're working out on the side.
Just the seven of us not vaxxed.
Is it because practice is outside and the weight room is inside?
Supposedly, yeah.
But so they knew my vaccination status from the start.
As did all my teammates.
There was a lot of talk about I endangered my teammates.
And, you know, I lied to my teammates and my team.
From day one that I returned, which was July 25th, probably, of 2021, they knew
where I was at.
Everybody did.
Also on the side, I had an appeal going with the NFL.
Because I said, look, here's my health issues.
Here's the protocol I went through.
Here's the research behind it.
I gave them 500 pages of research from a number of people that put together
case-reviewed studies around homeopathy and immunizations and safety in them
and also the efficacy of them.
And then I had a conversation with the league.
And the league said in this conversation, this is what I knew that my appeal
was definitely not going to happen, was they said, it's not possible for a
vaccinated player.
A person, sorry, to contract or transmit COVID if they've been vaccinated.
And I said, you've got to be kidding me.
Because I showed up and five people, non-players, five people fully vaxxed are
out with COVID.
So what are you talking about?
And he said, you're a conspiracy theorist.
Oh, boy.
And I said, no, I just think I'm a realist.
I'm just looking at the facts here.
What point in the pandemic was this?
This was like beginning of August, 2021.
So by then, they had already known that breakthrough infections were real.
By then, it had already, I mean, the vaccines started being rolled out.
Was it, when, what was the first year?
It was January of 2020, where they started getting them to older people, right?
No, no, that's when it started.
Right, I'm sorry.
January of 2021, rather.
Sorry.
January of 2021, they started giving out to older people, wasn't that?
They started rolling out in March and April, because that's when I was going
through the process of researching and looking into what I could do to protect
myself, having the, you know, the allergy of that.
And by August, people were still, they were already getting it, even though
they had been vaccinated.
So this was not, you know.
It wasn't talked about, I don't think, a whole lot.
Right, but it was four months.
But it was definitely happening.
So it was definitely happening.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I had only known one person at that time, somewhere around April, that had been
vaccinated and also got COVID.
And I just thought it was an aberration.
And I didn't, based on what I saw in the first few weeks at the facility.
And that's why I thought that there was an opportunity.
But it was difficult because we were separated.
There was a whole other situation that was going on that, you know, also was
going on in the rest of society,
is that my non-vaxed teammates who were on the bubble, right?
So 53 guys make the active roster, 16 on the practice squad, so 69 guys on the
squad.
There's 90 in camp, right?
So of the, I said seven, I think it was about 10 guys not vaxed, only a few of
us were guaranteed roster spots,
like we were going to be on the team.
And there's a lot of bubble guys.
The general managers, and there was talk around the league how general managers
were not going to keep bubble non-vaxed players, right?
So they were already up against it.
Not only did non-vax players have a harder chance of making the squad, but they
also had an almost 0% opportunity to get a workout afterwards.
So if you get cut, right, and the season starts, every Tuesday during the
football season,
most teams will bring in anywhere from 5 to 15 guys for workouts just to see
who's out there.
Is there any players that can add to the roster?
So if you weren't vaxed, you had a very low percentage, not just of keeping a
job,
but even getting a job opportunity, like, you know, a workout, which is wild.
And so after this conversation with the league, I knew that my appeal was going
away.
And they were doing this, I call it a witch hunt, you know, where they were
asking every single player,
are you vaccinated?
You know, they're asking a bunch of big quarterbacks.
And some guys were saying, you know, it's, you know, you know, it's personal or
whatever.
You know, I didn't want to talk about their status.
And it almost guaranteed you weren't vaccinated, right?
So then they were getting ripped and certain guys said, yes, I'm vaccinated.
And, you know, then they tried to get them to say shit about their teammates,
you know,
who weren't vaccinated, like dogged their teammates out.
So I've been ready the entire time for this question and had thought about how
I wanted to answer it.
And I had come to the conclusion, I'm going to say, I've been immunized.
And if there's a follow-up, then talk about my process.
But thought there's a possibility that I say I'm immunized.
Maybe they understand what that means.
Maybe they don't.
Maybe they follow up.
They didn't follow up.
So then I go the season, them thinking, some of them, that I was vaccinated,
right?
Because the only follow-up they asked was basically asking me to rip on my
teammates.
Like, what do you say to your teammates who aren't vaccinated?
Like, what kind of example do you feel like you're setting, you know, to your
teammates who aren't vaccinated?
And I said, hey, it's everybody's own decision with their body.
And we're super healthy individuals.
We take care of ourselves.
We understand what goes in our bodies.
And I don't have any judgment on any decision that a guy makes with their own
body, right?
But I knew at some point if I contracted COVID or if word got out because it's
the NFL and there's leaks everywhere, it was possible I'd have to answer the
questions.
And then sure enough, I contract COVID in the beginning of November, end of
October.
And that's when the shitstorm hit because now I'm a liar.
I'm, you know, endangering, you know, the community, my teammates, all these
people.
And, you know, the attempted takedown of me and, you know, my word and my
integrity began.
But so that was that was difficult.
But I will say, and I'm thankful to be on this show, like, I really appreciate
you and you helping me out during that time.
I reached out to you, I think, beginning of the season, I feel like, and just
said, hey, because you had talked about in your podcast a little bit.
You'd had some, you know, controversial, maybe less controversial now people on
there talking about.
Quite a bit less controversial now.
Talking about their, you know, their people, experts in the field talking about,
you know, their own ideas about COVID.
And, you know, you helped me with a, you know, a g