Watch: Aaron Rodgers Under Fire After Allegedly Ignoring Trump at UFC 302 - 'I Lost All Respect I Had for Him'
UPDATE, Jan. 4, 2024: Aaron Rodgers posted an image to social media showing himself shaking hands with former President Donald Trump at UFC 302. That has been added to this article.
As former President Donald Trump made a triumphant entry to UFC 302 on Saturday, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers appeared to tune out the fuss.
Video posted to X shows Trump making his way through a cheering crowd, some of whom clapped for him and others who stood. Trump shook hands with many fans and smiled.
🇺🇸 Donald Trump 🤝 Aaron Rodgers 🤝 Theo Von 🇺🇸#UFC302 | LIVE on TNT Sports & discovery+ pic.twitter.com/gaU20Djtv2
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) June 2, 2024
The viral video shows Trump passing Rodgers, who was wearing a New York Yankees baseball cap and sitting with former Green Bay Packers teammate Marcedes Lewis.
Trump smiled in their direction, but Rodgers did not appear to look at Trump, as noted by the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
Aaron Rodgers just refused to shake Trump’s hand
I lost all respect I had for him pic.twitter.com/JX1rsMXeOQ
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) June 2, 2024
The incident was fodder for social media, with one prominent user on X writing, “Aaron Rodgers just refused to shake Trump’s hand I lost all respect I had for him.”
And the debate was on:
Not entirely sure Trump even knew Rodger’s was there…. walked on by
— Yankees Girl 1776 🇺🇸♥️🇺🇸 (@LizLemon5759) June 2, 2024
Rodgers knows he’s a beta male. Trump dominates the room. He’s not even a thought
— Bodd Toone (@toddfather6214) June 2, 2024
Untrue. Trump walked past him he was sitting down and Trump never extended his hand to him. This is obvious
— 🇺🇸Daniel Mandia🇺🇸 (@DanielMandia2) June 2, 2024
Wow! I can’t believe it. What a loser.
— JKash 🍊MAGA Queen (@JKash000) June 2, 2024
Doesn’t even look like trump offered his hand.
— AmericanPapaBear (@AmericaPapaBear) June 2, 2024
Fans were split as to whether Rodgers actually snubbed the former president or if Trump had briskly walked past the NFL star without a chance for a response.
On Sunday, the quarterback provided an answer when he posted a photo on Instagram Stories showing himself shaking hands with the former president at the UFC event.
No, Aaron Rodgers did not snub President Trump. They met and shook hands. Rodgers called the moment “priceless”. pic.twitter.com/6O9ZcPNrPT
— Bad Hombre (@joma_gc) June 2, 2024
Rodgers, who has shared his disdain for the COVID-19 vaccine, noted that he and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., another vaccine critic, talked about a possible Rodgers presence on Kennedy’s ticket, but it came to nothing.
“I love Bobby. We had a couple really nice conversations,” Rodgers has said, according to the Mail. “But there were really two options. It was retire and be his VP or keep playing. And I wanted to keep playing.”
He expanded upon his choices in an interview with Adam Schein on SiriusXM NFL Radio, as noted by NJ.com.
“There was only two options. One of the options was to not play and go down the route of thinking about being VP, and obviously I was on a short list for [Kennedy],” he said.
“The other option was the option that … was the only one in my mind and that was playing football. I had to listen to Bobby because I respect him and I appreciate his friendship, but the entire time since Sept. 12 my focus has been playing. I listened to what he had to say, we had a couple of beautiful dinners and conversations, but in the end I was always playing,” he said, referring to the date of last year’s season-ending injury.
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