Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers publicly destroyed the argument of a Most Valuable Player voter who said he wouldn’t cast a ballot for Rodgers because “he’s a bad guy.”
Chicago-based sportswriter, Hub Arkush, a member of the 50 Associated Press MVP voters, called Rodgers a “jerk” he won’t be voting for, on a radio show Tuesday.
“I don’t think you can be the biggest jerk in the league and punish your team, and your organization and your fan base the way he did and be the Most Valuable Player,” Arkush said.
Despite acknowledging that Rodgers has been “the most valuable on the field,” he’s upset that the quarterback jeopardized the team’s chances of getting the No. 1 seed in their division when he misdirected the media about being vaccinated last year and contracted COVID.
“I just think that the way he’s carried himself is inappropriate,” Arkush said. “I think he’s a bad guy, and I don’t think a bad guy can be the most valuable guy at the same time.”
Rodgers torched Arkush in a Wednesday press conference. “I think he’s a bum. I think he’s an absolute bum,” Rodgers said. “He doesn’t know me. I don’t know who he is.
“No one knew who he was, probably, until yesterday’s comments. And I listened to the comments,” he continued. “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.”
Rodgers added that Arkush doesn’t have a problem with him for being a “jerk” or a “bad guy,” it’s COVID related. “His problem is I’m not vaccinated,” he continued. “So 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.”
On Wednesday, Arkush acknowledged that talking about his MVP vote was an error, but not for his decision to withhold a vote from Rogers, rather because he may lose standing with the league for speaking publicly about his vote. “I made a big mistake last night,” Arkush said. “It’s on me, I screwed up… All you can do is own it, and I own it.”
Rodgers isn’t losing any sleep over the sportswriter’s vote. “He’s a bum. And I’m not going to waste any time worrying about that stuff. He has no idea who I am. He’s never talked to me in his life. But it’s unfortunate that those sentiments — it’s surprising that he would even say that, to be honest. But I knew this was possible.”
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