Update: prominent website claims evidence that will confirm Aaron Rodgers gay rumors.
There are times when Aaron Rodgers looks like he might the best player in all of football. Not just the best QB, but the best NFL player alive.
And as usual, every time Aaron Rodgers is on national television, I look at this site’s traffic stats and I see two phrases “Aaron Rodgers Gay” and “Is Aaron Rodgers Gay?” driving more traffic to TSB. During the postseason these search numbers increased, peaking when the Green Bay Packers were in the Super Bowl; of course.
In fact, the high amount of “Aaron Rodgers Gay Rumors” search activity made the A-Rodg material the most viewed NFL content on the site. All this, despite the women he’s been linked to. Now even with his relationship to Olivia Munn (which some of even branded a distraction) lots and lots of people out there seem to think Rodgers is still a homosexual.
I’m telling you right now that we will not attempt to answer the question of Rodgers’ sexual orientation. I’m not even going to venture a guess about whether Aaron Rodgers is straight or gay. What I am going to do is present what we do know about his personal life, and ultimately why none of that has anything to do with why he’s an NFL MVP quarterback.
As we’ve documented in the past, Rodgers has been (rumored) linked to: the mother of all sideline princesses Erin Andrews and “Gossip Girl” actress Jessica Szohr. These reports were never confirmed nor denied. His current girlfriend, is a stripper named Destiny Newton, so he probably went considerably down market. Although this would give him more “guy’s-guy” (that translates to “blokey-bloke” for my readers in the U.K.) cred.
This relationship has been highly documented in social media by Newton’s sister Shawntel (I just can’t make up names like these)
Of course, that doesn’t prove anything, as the actor Rock Hudson proved. He’s always the classic example of a “beard.” but here’s a more contemporary link: “Michelle Bachman and 10 women who married famous gay men.”
His father Ed Rodgers chimed in, “Well he’s not dating anyone, those things online, 99.9% are not true.”
Remember the context though, they were answering rumors about Rodgers being linked to the three women I mentioned before and Lady Antebellum singer Hillary Scott and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Julie Henderson.
Then there’s these comments from Rodgers in Sporting News (this is the second gunman on the grassy knoll for the Rodgers is gay conspiracy camp):
SN: “Do you live with anybody?
AARON RODGERS: “I’ve got a roommate, a guy I met in town. He works for the Packers now as an athletic trainer, but he was interning when I met him and we just hit it off. He’s been great for me as far as great conversations outside of football. Our friendship goes a lot deeper than what we do.”
So what did we learn? Only that we shouldn’t believe nearly all of what we read online, and that Aaron Rodgers choice of words in this one quote have set off legions of people questioning his sexuality. Again, I will not venture a guess either way.
However, you heard the news about Jason Collins this past year.
I think it proved America is ready.
And unless you’re Aaron Rodgers himself- or someone very close to him that he confides in, you don’t know what Rodgers’ sexuality is. If you only take one thing away from this piece- please take that.
Every time the Packers are on national television, which is a whole helluva lot, this story pops back up. And it pops up because people are constantly searching for “Aaron Rodgers gay,” “Aaron Rodgers gay rumors,” “Is Aaron Rodgers gay,” “Aaron Rodgers athletic trainer boyfriend” and etc.
I only look at the facts. The Green Bay QB has one soundbite from several years ago, and his mother has one quote as well that has led to speculation. I don’t know and I’m not even going to try and guess what his sexual orientation is. It’s none of my business and frankly it’s none of yours.
Of course, I know in our celebrity-obsessed culture and this weird unholy combination of The Matirx and a fishbowl that we all live in now the very notion of privacy is dead. And America never had a monarchy, so instead we have celebrity.
Still, personally, I don’t care. Didn’t care then when I wrote about Rodgers perceived sexual proclivities in 2010, and I don’t care now. I’m more intrigued by the fact that no Packers assistants are being recruited for NFL head coaching jobs. And the fact that it angers Coach Mike McCarthy.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports, Yardbarker Network, eBay and CBS Interactive Inc.
You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)