The Conners poked some fun at GreenBay Packers player Aaron Rodgers in Wednesday night’s episode on ABC, calling out the former guest star for his stance on vaccines.
In the episode, Becky (Lecy Goranson) cracked the joke after her nephew Mark (Ames McNamara) began complaining about having to go back to school in the midst of the pandemic. Her character suggests he could choose to do homeschooling instead. “Then you won’t be forced to have all those life-saving vaccines,” she said. “And you can make up your own scientific theories like your favorite athletes.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
Rodgers made a cameo on the show in Season 3’s “Jeopardé, Sobrieté and Infidelité” episode in which he starred as himself. Laurie (Jackie Metcalf) won the chance to compete on Jeopardy! and the football player was leading the show as a guest host.
Rodgers has come under harsh criticism in the last couple of years for his controversial stance on the covid vaccine and proposed vaccination mandates. The quarterback admitted last year after he came down with a case of Covid in November that he actually hadn’t received any of the CDC-approved covid-19 vaccines despite previously declaring that he’d been vaccinated against the virus.
“I march to the beat of my own drum,” he said of his stance on the mandatory mandate at the time during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “I believe strongly in bodily autonomy, [in the] ability to make choices for your body, not to have to acquiesce to some woke culture or crazed group of individuals who say you have to do something.”
Rodgers went back on the show on Jan. 25, saying that his vaccine stance played a huge role in why fans were jumping off the Packers bandwagon. “There were a ton of people tuning in rooting against us for one reason, and one reason only,” Rodgers said at the time. “It’s because of my vaccination status and them wanting to see us lose so they could pile on and enjoy and revel in the fact that my vaccination status was some sort of reason why we haven’t had success in the playoffs.”
Aaron’s estranged father, Ed, however still showed his son some support amid the high tensions and backlash. “I think he tried to probably treat himself naturally, like a lot of folks do,” Ed told USA Today. “And there’s a lot of great natural things out there, which help mitigate the virus. So I’m proud of him. I’m proud that he went that route.”
