Aaron Rodgers gives bizarre interview to Tucker Carlson talking anti-vax, Biden, and ‘demonic’ UFOs

The anti-vaccine NFL star did not rule out the idea of running for vice president alongside Robert F Kennedy Jr

Anti-vaccine NFL star Aaron Rodgers has claimed that people who got inoculated against COVID-19 should be treated with "compassion" as others help them realize they were wrong, the quarterback said in a new interview.

In a wide-ranging discussion with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, the New York Jets quarterback said he felt "empathy" for people who were persuaded by "full court propaganda" to get vaccinated.

Aaron Rodgers at Tucker Carlson’s house in footage on 14 May 2024 (Tucker Carlson via X)

As well as repeating false claims about the safety of COVID vaccines, Mr Rodgers praised Mr Carlson's soft-soap interview with Vladimir Putin, suggested that "a lot" of dead people had voted in US elections and claimed there might be a "demonic aspect" to UFO activity.

The two started off their table talk by bashing COVID vaccines and lockdown mandates.

"I've been strong against the vax, against lockdowns, against mandates, against all of it. In the last few months I've been looking at things a little bit differently," Mr Rodgers said.

"Those people had a ton of fear. They thought they were doing the right thing, for themselves, for their friends, for their families.

"They went through all the mass-formation psychosis that we all did – the full-court propaganda against us – and are now going, 'oh s***. Maybe that wasn't the best. Maybe they lied to us. Maybe this wasn't safe...'

Aaron Rodgers as a New York Jet (AP)

"That would make people feel a lot of shame and guilt. So how do we call these people forward, in love and acceptance – not forgetting what happened, how we were treated, how we were canceled – to step into the truth?"

In recent months, anti-vaxxers have seized upon a series of new studies and media reports offering further evidence that some vaccines may have dangerous side effects and that the US may not be effectively tracking such cases.

But these issues remain rare in overall terms, and their impact would likely be dwarfed by the number of lives saved by protecting against COVID infection. Many of them were also widely known during the early rollouts of the various vaccines.

Mr Rodgers falsely claimed that 44 percent of pregnant women in a Pfizer vaccine study had miscarriages after being inoculated. In fact, the rate was 7 percent, slightly below the estimated overall likelihood of having a miscarriage.

In one exchange, Mr Rodgers called Mr Tucker's recent interview with Vladimir Putin "awesome", saying the Russian dictator had come off as "an interesting, thoughtful, smart individual."

He added: "I'd love to see Biden give an interview where can speak on the history of the United States in the same way Putin talked about the history of his country."

Mr Tucker was bashed after the interview for allowing Putin to freely give a disorted view of history including Russia’s history with Ukraine.

Mr Tucker was bashed after the interview for allowing Putin to freely give a disorted view of history including Russia’s history with Ukraine (AP)

When Mr Tucker asked Mr Rodgers asked about the idea that "spiritual forces" are affecting world politics – which appears to be a current preoccupation of Mr Carlson's – Mr Rodgers said it accorded with his upbringing as a Christian, which taught him that there is always an "invisible" battle being waged.

"In my space where I'm at, where I do a lot of plant medicine, the veils between worlds, between dimensions, get very thin. So the idea of seeing other entities, seeing angelic type beings, demonic type beings, is very normal," he said.

"And the idea that there's a demonic aspect to the [UFO] phenomenon, I think, is very plausible and interesting."