Jimmy Kimmel made sure to address the elephant in the room during his first show back since 2023.
On Monday, January 8, the talk show host got straight to the point during his opening monologue of Jimmy Kimmel Live! — where he recapped the recent controversy stemming from false claims Aaron Rodgers made about Kimmel being tied to disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
"Thank you for joining us for the first show of 2024, which is already a crazy year, particularly for me," the 56-year-old began while speaking to the audience, who informed Kimmel they most certainly knew what he was referring to.
In case you missed it — Rodgers recently appeared on Pat McAfee Show and aimlessly accused "a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel" of "hoping" the infamous list of Epstein's associates "doesn't come out."
The now unsealed documents revealed a list of celebrity names allegedly tied to Epstein. While being on the list doesn't necessarily mean an individual has done any wrongdoing or that they've been accused of working with the s-- trafficker, Kimmel's name notably never appeared in the court papers released Wednesday, January 3.
"He said I was hoping it wouldn't and that he was going to pop a bottle of something to celebrate when he did, and then it did come out, and of course, my name wasn't on it and isn't on it, and won't ever be on. I don't know Jeffrey Epstein, I've never met Jeffrey Epstein," Kimmel continued during Monday's show.
The dad-of-four declared: "I'm not on the list. I was not on a plane or an island or anything ever, and I suggested that if Aaron wanted to make false and very damaging statements like that, we should do it in court so that he can share his proof with a judge."
"I'm not one of those people who think athletes and members of the sports media should stick to talking about sports. I think Aaron Rodgers has the right to express any opinion he wants to," Kimmel admitted, though he pointed out the New York Jets star's remarks were "not an opinion or considered trash talk."
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"And as far as the 'Well, you say things about people all the time' argument goes, yes, I do. It's not the same. It's not even close to the same," the comedian insisted. "We say a lot of things on this show. We don't make up lies. In fact, we have a team of people who work very hard to sift through facts and reputable sources before I make a joke, and that's an important distinction - a joke about someone."
Before moving on to his regularly scheduled programming, Kimmel suggested Rodgers say sorry for making baseless accusations against the talk show star that could have been detrimental to his career.
"Which is what Aaron Rodgers should do," Kimmel stated, referring to an apology. "Which is what a decent person would do, but I bet he won't. If he does, you know what I'll do? I'll accept his apology and move on, but he probably won't do that. My guess is that he won't apologize. I hope I'm wrong."
