NFL star Aaron Rodgers could lose MVP votes because he has chosen not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Sportswriter Hub Arkush, one of 50 Associated Press voters, revealed this week that Rodgers’s decision not to follow the NFL’s vaccination protocols convinced him to vote against him this year. He called Rodgers “the biggest jerk in the league” and claimed Rodgers didn’t deserve the award.
“I don’t think a bad guy can be the most valuable guy at the same time,” Arkush said.
Rodgers, a three-time MVP, responded by calling Arkush “an absolute bum.”
“He doesn’t know me. I don’t know who he is,” Rodgers said. “No one knew who he was, probably, until yesterday’s comments. And I listened to the comments. But to say he had his mind made up in the summertime, in the offseason that I had zero chance of winning MVP — in my opinion, that should exclude [him from] future votes.”
Aaron Rodgers’ full comments on Hub Arkush:
“I think he’s an absolute bum.” pic.twitter.com/K9CzLNkABr
— Stephen Watson (@WISN_Watson) January 5, 2022
Rodgers said it is obvious Arkush is more upset about him not being vaccinated than about whether he is a “bad guy.”
“He doesn’t know anything about me … I’ve never had lunch with him,“ Rodgers explained. “I’ve never had an interview with him. His problem is I’m not vaccinated.
“If he wants to go on a crusade and collude and come up with an extra letter to put on the award just for this season and make it the ‘Most Valuable Vaccinated Player,’ then he should do that,” Rodgers said.
Arkush later apologized, saying he regrets his insults and how they might affect the MVP vote.
“I was wrong,” he said. “My only mission is to try and undo any possible stain that I would have put on the votes or the awards or my fellow voters. I’ve literally just been sick about that.”
