“When someone has an argument...": How Aaron Rodgers’ friendship with Mina Kimes fell apart after his controversial views changed their friendship

Aaron Rodgers has never been shy about speaking his mind, but his appearance on the *Not Just Football with Cam Heyward* podcast on September 10 crossed from opinion into something more personal. The 42-year-old Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback called out NFL analyst Mina Kimes by name, claiming she was among the media friends who turned on him after he spoke out against COVID vaccinations. What followed was a candid, at times sharp, account of how one decision reshaped nearly every professional relationship he had built in the media.What exactly did Aaron Rodgers say about Mina Kimes?Aaron Rodgers made it clear that the fallout was not limited to Kimes alone. He recalled a time when the media genuinely valued his perspective — on Colin Kaepernick, on social issues, even on moments that earned him a handwritten note from President Obama. "Everybody loved hearing my takes," he said. "Mina Kimes had me to her house for a feature I did. All of these people were my friends in the media. Until I came out against COVID."That line carries a lot of weight. Rodgers is not just describing a friendship that faded. He is describing a pattern — a conditional kind of acceptance that disappeared the moment his views became inconvenient.He pushed back on the criticism that followed, arguing that his critics abandoned facts for personal attacks. "When someone has an argument and all they can ever say is, they attack your character instead of the content of what you're actually saying, you know that you're actually on the right side of things," he said.Why did Aaron Rodgers say he used the word "immunized" in 2021?This is where Rodgers gets into territory he has revisited multiple times over the years. He explained that his use of the word "immunized" was tied to an active appeal he was making to the NFL regarding his vaccination status. "When I said I was immunized, it was because that statement alone was the crux of my entire argument and ongoing appeal with the NFL around my vaccination status," he said on the podcast.Rodgers later admitted he had avoided the vaccines due to an allergy to polyethylene glycol and expressed skepticism about the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. His appeal to the NFL, which sought to have treatment from a holistic doctor count toward his vaccination status, was ultimately denied.Beyond the semantics, Rodgers says the bigger issue was how unvaccinated players were treated inside team facilities. "Not to mention the hypocrisy around the treatment of players that were non-vaxxed, the inhumane way that we were treated as secondhand citizens around the facility, the way that we couldn't do anything on the road," he said.How did Mina Kimes respond to Rodgers' comments?Kimes addressed Rodgers' vaccination controversy just two days earlier, on September 8, during an appearance on *The Sports Gossip Show*. "It was interesting to see him rehash the COVID stuff," she said. "He clearly was very bothered by the criticism."Kimes was careful to separate the issue. Her criticism, she said, was never about Rodgers being unvaccinated. "The criticism was that he lied about it by omission or whatever," she explained. She also pointed to Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins, who similarly pushed back against the vaccine but largely avoided the same level of media scrutiny. "I think those two are an interesting point of comparison," she added.That comparison is pointed. It suggests the media's response to Rodgers was not purely about vaccine hesitancy but about the specific way he handled the truth around it.What does this say about Rodgers heading into the 2026 season?Rodgers also called Fauci "an absolute, in my opinion, criminal," adding that people -- especially Black Americans -- should have "a healthy skepticism" toward government health agencies.His comments landed just days before his first game of the 2026 season, with the Steelers set to host the Atlanta Falcons at Acrisure Stadium. At 42, Rodgers is likely in his final NFL season. And yet, rather than stepping back from controversy, he is leaning into it -- revisiting old grievances with the same conviction that created them in the first place.Whether you agree with him or not, the Rodgers-Kimes story is really a story about how COVID permanently rewired sports media relationships and drew lines that, five years later, have never fully moved.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.