It's been 11 years since Aaron Rodgers proclaimed he “really, really like[s] women” when asked if he was gay — but the New York Jets quarterback is still frustrated about the question in the first place.
“I think I was upset with the framing [of the rumor] because it was meant to shame the idea of being gay, and I have so many friends that are gay in the community,” Rodgers, 40, recently told author Ian O’Connor for his new biography, Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers.
“I’m like, say anything you want about me, but do you understand these people are using this to shame the idea of being gay?” the former Green Bay athlete elaborated. “That’s just disrespectful to all my friends who are in the community who don’t believe that it’s a choice. They were making it seem like you’re shaming people for being gay, when a lot of them, if you ask them, they didn’t ask for this life. ‘This is who I am.’”
Rodgers explained that he “want[ed] to go after … the people [with homophobic views] … not in relation to me, because I could give a s*** what they thought about me, but that they’re using this to shame, like it’s a bad thing to be gay. Like it’s a negative.”
Radio host Jason Wilde, however, encouraged Rodgers to “‘let it go and just say no [I’m not gay],’” Rodgers claimed about the 2013 interview. He also noted that he and Wilde have since “talked it out.”
The athlete also explained that he didn’t “blame” Wilde for encouraging him to deny being gay (rather than share his view on how gay rumors are inherently homophobic).
