Aaron Rodgers Speaks Out After Report On Sandy Hook Conspiracy Comments

Aaron Rodgers, the New York Jets quarterback and a potential vice presidential pick for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., spoke out Thursday in response to claims that he privately spread lies about the deadly mass shooting in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Rodgers posted on social media that he believes the massacre that killed 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Connecticut did indeed take place.

“As I’m on the record saying in the past, what happened in Sandy Hook was an absolute tragedy. I am not and have never been of the opinion that the events did not take place,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“Again, I hope that we learn from this and other tragedies to identify the signs that will allow us to prevent unnecessary loss of life,” he continued. “My thoughts and prayers continue to remain with the families affected along with the entire Sandy Hook community.”

Rodgers’ post comes one day after CNN reported that the athlete spread false conspiracy theories about the massacre, citing an interaction the then-Green Bay Packers quarterback had in 2013 with Pamela Brown, one of the network’s reporters.

In the report, Brown recalled Rodgers “attacking the news media for covering up important stories” after she introduced herself to him as a reporter while covering the Kentucky Derby for CNN. The quarterback then reportedly told her he thought the Sandy Hook massacre was an inside job carried out by the government.

When Brown then asked him to provide evidence the very real shooting was staged, “Rodgers began sharing various theories that have been disproven numerous times,” CNN reported, including the baseless assertion that “men in black in the woods by the school” were actually