Mike Freeman Strikes Again, This Time Attacking Aaron Rodgers For Calling Travis Kelce 'Mr. Pfizer'

Earlier this week, Aaron Rodgers debuted a new nickname for Travis Kelce: Mr. Pfizer.

It happened on The Pat McAfee Show Tuesday, when the future Hall of Fame quarterback recapped the New York Jets' close loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. While most expected a blowout, the defending Super Bowl champs barely edged out the Jets 23-20.

"We hung with the champs and our defense played well, and Pat (Mahomes) didn't have a crazy game," Rodgers said. "And Mr. Pfizer — we kind of shut him down. He didn't have his crazy impact game."

Rodgers' comment was a playful jab (no pun intended) at Kelce, who recently appeared in an ad campaign for the drug company — encouraging everyone to go get their COVID booster and their flu shot at the same time.

McAfee got a kick out of it. And so did we.

But there's still an angry, delusional mob of Coronabros out there. And they're ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

Enter USA TODAY's Mike Freeman.

Mike Freeman Attacks Aaron Rodgers For Spreading 'Misinformation'

Aaron Rodgers has not been shy about his thoughts on the COVID vaccine. The four-time NFL MVP refused the jab — deciding instead to do what he felt was best for his own body. And he's not afraid to call out anyone (including Kelce) for selling out to promote it.

So Freeman penned a scathing column Friday calling Rodgers every name under the sun — a liar, a fool, a buffoon, a goon, a clown.

Aaron Rodgers refers to Travis Kelce as "Mr. Pfizer" after the Chiefs tight end starred in an ad campaign for the pharmaceutical company. (Getty Images)

It should come as no surprise that Freeman took issue with Rodgers' "Mr. Pfizer" comment. After all, he makes a living out of being unapologetically woke and exhibiting faux outrage over nothing. Granted, as the publication's Race and Inequality Editor (yes, that's an actual job title), most of his work centers around simply calling everyone a racist.

So maybe we should applaud him for switching things up.

But as we've seen over and over, in the absence of data to back up their stance, some "journalists" simply resort to name-calling and ad hominem attacks.

Who's really spreading misinformation?

Freeman acknowledges Kelce is undoubtedly being paid handsomely for his commercial, but that's OK because he's "doing something to save lives." Meanwhile, Rodgers' words are "potentially dangerous" and all lies.

But what's really the lie? For months, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Joe Biden and others told us the vaccine was 100% effective in preventing the infection and transmission of COVID-19. But multiple studies since then have confirmed vaccine efficacy against COVID is functionally nonexistent.

In April, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky testified in Congress that the mRNA injections marketed as COVID-19 vaccines do not stop the spread of the virus.

Everything once labeled "misinformation" is now proven fact. But Freeman can't let go. He can't admit he, not Rodgers or his fans, was the one misled.

(Getty Images)

The USA TODAY columnist also slammed comments from Fox News contributor Leo Terrell. Terrell challenged Kelce to produce evidence that a healthy, 33-year-old physical specimen needs a COVID vaccine. Terrell, like others, questions whether the vaccine (and multiple boosters) is unnecessary for folks who don't have co-morbidities or other risk factors.

"These are all lies of course," Freeman wrote.

But they aren't lies.

Earlier this year, Dr. Paul Offit (a member of the FDA's Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee) recommended against vaccinating young, healthy people who have a lower risk of serious illness against COVID. In the New England Journal of Medicine, he provided data to support his recommendation and titled it, "A Cautionary Tale." And he's not the only medical professional who has taken this stance.

Trust the science? Or pick and choose which science you like? Freeman went with the latter.

(Photo by Paul Hennessy via Getty Images)

And he didn't just call out Rodgers. Freeman criticized McAfee for not standing up to the quarterback lest he lose access to him for interviews. And he blamed the "legion of fools" who blindly follows the lead of a "staggeringly ignorant" professional athlete.

What the columnist fails to realize about the "foolish right-wing chorus" he despises, though, is that they feel the same way about Freeman and others like him — those who bow to the altar of Big Pharma. Those who refuse to ask questions regardless of the discrepancies that stare them in the face. Those who write scathing personal attacks without any evidence to back them up.

But we knew the column would be ridiculous from the opening paragraph when he wrote Rodgers "was again dressing himself in a clown suit, with the floppy shoes and red nose."

No, Mike. You might just be looking in the mirror.

Follow Amber Harding on X: @TheAmberHarding