Travis Kelce takes high road in ‘vaxx war’ with Aaron Rodgers’ ‘Mr. Pfizer’ joke
Travis Kelce on Friday said he stands by the COVID-19 vaccine “1,000%,” as he responded to reporters’ questions about the not-so-amusing joke by vaccine skeptic Aaron Rodgers, who seemed to derisively refer to the Kansas City Chiefs tight end as “Mr. Pfizer” because he appears in ads for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.
Touching his recently acquired mustache, Kelce told reporters, “I mean, with the ‘stache right now, I look like a guy named Mr. Pfizer.”
Kelce then said, according to NBC News, “Who knew I’d get into the vaxx war with Aaron Rodgers, man? Mr. Pfizer vs. the Johnson & Johnson family over there, man.”
Kelce was referring Rodgers’ quip Tuesday, while also pointing out that Rodgers is employed as quarterback by the New York Jets, which are owned by Woody Johnson. Johnson, in turn is the heir to the pharmaceutical fortune of Johnson & Johnson, one of the makers of COVID-19 vaccines.
As NBC News reported, Rodgers has expressed the belief that “Big Pharma,” which includes Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Modern, has directed members of the sports media to vilify Rodgers for his resistance to COVID vaccines.
If there’s “a vaxx” war between the two NFL stars, Rodgers started it during his regular Tuesday appearance on the “The Pat McAfee Show.” Rodgers made his “Mr. Pfizer” wisecrack two days after his New York Jets lost to Kelce’s Chiefs 23-20 on Sunday. Rodgers, a four-time MVP, didn’t play because he suffered an achilles tendon injury in the first game of the season.
When McAfee asked Rodgers to assess the Jets’ play, the Chico-reared quarterback commended the Jets’ defense, suggesting that his teammates managed to keep Kelce from scoring any touchdowns.
“Mr. Pfizer, we kinda shut him down,” Rodgers said. “He didn’t have a crazy impact game. Obviously he had some yards and stuff. It felt like for the most part we played.”
The “Mr. Pfizer” comment prompted McAfee and his co-host A.J. Hawk to laugh uneasily. Rodgers and McAfee then spent the next few minutes riffing on a joke Rodgers once made, which prompted a false report that he suffered “COVID toe” during his 2021 bout with the virus.
McAfee asked Rodgers if it felt good for him to throw some shade at Kelce for his Pfizer endorsement. He also asked Rodgers whether his “Mr. Pfizer” quip was planned. Rodgers deflected by saying he’s known Kelce a long time and can’t see how he would be bothered by his joke.
“No, he’s doing commercials for Pfizer, so I’m sure he’s owning it,” Rodgers said. But Hawk pointed out that Kelce also endorses a number of other products and wondered why Rodgers didn’t call him, for example, “Mr. Lowe’s.”
On Friday, Kelce shrugged off Rodgers’ “Mr Pfizer” remark, while explaining his position on the COVID shot.
“I mean, I’ve always been, you know — once I got the vaccine, I mean — I got it before of keeping myself safe, keeping my family safe, the people in this building,” Kelce said. “So, yeah, I stand by it. 1,000 percent. And fully comfortable with him calling me Mr. Pfizer.”
Even as Rodgers and Kelce tried to laugh off the “Mr. Pfizer” comment, it still takes on darker connotations when viewed in the context of attacks that Kelce and his rumored girlfriend Taylor Swift have endured in the past few months.
The attacks, from vaccine skeptics, include recycled conspiracy theories about COVID-19 shots, AFP reported, via Yahoo News. Some of the internet’s “most notorious anti-vaxxers,” such as Charlie Kirk, founder of conservative organization Turning Point USA, also have been exploiting the “buzz” around Kelce and Swift’s rumored romance in order to crack jokes, lob insults and push false claims that vaccines cause widespread heart problems or kill people.
It would seem that Rodgers would be particularly attuned to the heated rhetoric used by “notorious anti-vaxxers,” since he’s a well-known vaccine skeptic himself.
Back in November 2021, the former Green Bay Packers star infamously tested positive for the coronavirus and revealed on “The Pat McAfee Show” that he had not gotten the vaccine. During that incendiary appearance, Rodgers was accused of spreading common anti-vaccine disinformation when he launched into an angry screed to justify why he had not gotten the vaccine.