The strange saga of Aaron Rodgers’ toe has taken yet another bizarre turn.
Rodgers has requested an apology from a writer, Molly Knight, over a story she shared, but didn’t write.
In his press conference Wednesday, the Packers quarterback railed against “disinformation” in a Wall Street Journal story that quoted his segment from the “Pat McAfee Show” where he joked that he had COVID toe (and then implied that he actually had a broken pinky toe). The Journal story then went on to describe how COVID toe is a real aftereffect of the pandemic and includes lesions.
In his presser, Rodgers put his toes up for all to see there were no lesions, then requested an apology from a writer who did not author the story.
“I have a fractured toe, so I expect a full apology from Molly Knight and whoever her editors were,” Rodgers said. “I did get a kick out of reading that article. That was very, very interesting. No I’ve never heard of COVID toe before. Pat made a joke about it on the show, and I mentioned yesterday that it’s worse than a turf toe and it must be a bone issue.
“I can’t believe I have to again come on here and talk about my medical information. But yeah, I have a fractured toe. I’ve never heard of COVID toe before. I have no lesions on my feet. That’s just a classic case of disinformation. It’s surprising coming from what used to be a reputable journalistic institution. But that’s just the world we live in these days.”
Molly Knight, who does not work for the Wall Street Journal, has a Substack page where she covers baseball. She has previously written for ESPN and The Athletic. The Wall Street Journal story was written by Andrew Beaton.
The Post and Wall Street Journal are both part of News Corp.
Knight had shared the Wall Street Journal story with a caption that said, “This is what happens when you take medical advice from Joe Rogan.” She deleted the tweet when she was told that “COVID toe” was a joke from Rodgers.
Knight explained the sequence of events from her perspective in an email to The Post.
“Today I tweeted a link to a Wall Street Journal story about Aaron Rodgers, then went to a spin class and the local homeless feed where I volunteer,” Knight wrote. “Apparently he mentioned me by name in a press conference, because when I finished my work my social media feeds were full of unpleasant comments from Rodgers’ fans.
“I didn’t write the article Rodgers is upset about, but I guess in the grand scheme of things it’s not that big of a deal. I would like to thank Aaron for directing traffic to my Twitter feed, where I am raising money for blankets for our unhoused neighbors. It’s getting cold, and the number of people who need help in Southern California has ballooned in recent years, so every bit of awareness helps.”
After the press conference, Knight was inundated with tweets from angry Packers fans.
“Since there seems to be some confusion: I did not write the Aaron Rodgers Covid toe article,” Knight tweeted. “I do not work for the Wall Street Journal. Please stop all this hate. Thank you.”
“I have no idea why Aaron Rodgers said my name in a press conference,” Knight responded when asked by a replier why he named her. “I am only finding out about it now because it’s absolutely insane.
“Like how in the world? This is so surreal. Please stop harassing me. Please. I did not write the article.”
