Chicago sportswriter Hub Arkush went public on Tuesday about his plans to omit Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers from his MVP ballot, calling Rodgers “the biggest jerk in the league” while explaining his reasoning.
On Wednesday, Rodgers was asked about Arkush’s comments, and it was pretty clear that the Packers quarterback — who remains unvaccinated even after his deceptive preseason remarks — took offense to what Arkush said.
While speaking to reporters, Rodgers called Arkush “a bum,” and turned the focus back on his vaccination status. Arkush admitted he made a mistake on Wednesday in disclosing how he was going to approach his MVP vote. But again, Rodgers didn’t seem to care.
He went on a rant about Arkush.
.@AaronRodgers12 opened about the comments reporter @Hub_Arkush made: “I think he’s a bum. I think he’s an absolute bum."
"His problem with me is that I'm not vaccinated."pic.twitter.com/h9XURmZgFE
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 5, 2022
Rodgers went as far as to call for Arkush to lose his MVP voting privileges:
“I think he’s a bum. I think he’s an absolute bum. He doesn’t know me. I don’t know who he is. Nobody knew who he was probably until yesterday’s comments. And I listened to the comments, but to say he had his mind made up in the summer time, in the offseason, that I had zero chance of winning MVP — in my opinion, should exclude future votes. His problem isn’t with me being a bad guy, the biggest jerk in the league. He doesn’t know me, doesn’t know anything about me. I’ve never met him, I’ve never had lunch with him, I’ve never had an interview with him. His problem is that I’m not vaccinated.”
Arkush said on Tuesday on 670 The Score, via USA TODAY Sports:
“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. Has he been the most valuable on the field? Yeah, you could make that argument, but I don’t think he is clearly that much more valuable than Jonathan Taylor or Cooper Kupp or maybe even Tom Brady. So from where I sit, the rest of it is why he’s not gonna be my choice.
“Do I think he’s gonna win it? Probably. A lot of voters don’t approach it the way I do, but others do, who I’ve spoken to. But one of the ways we get to keep being voters is we’re not allowed to say who we are voting for until after the award has been announced. I’m probably pushing the envelope by saying who I’m not voting for. But we’re not really supposed to reveal our votes.”
In Arkush’s remarks on Wednesday, he said his mistake wasn’t about how he felt about Rodgers but instead, he regretted disclosing his vote publicly.
