NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers knows how to throw a football ― and hold a grudge.
In fact, he’s still mad at his brother, Jordan Rodgers, for the way he handled their estranged relationship during a 2016 appearance on “The Bachelorette.”
According to E! News, the New York Jets player explained why his brother’s appearance on “a bullshit show” eight years ago still bugs him in the new Netflix documentary series, “Aaron Rodgers: Enigma,” which debuted Tuesday.
Jordan Rodgers was one of the bachelors vying for Jojo Fletcher’s heart on the ABC reality show, and he eventually married her in 2022.
But when he brought her home to meet his parents and eldest brother, Luke Rodgers, there were also two empty chairs, presumably to represent Aaron Rodgers and his then-girlfriend, Olivia Munn.
“We miss our brother,” Luke Rodgers said about the professional football player on “The Bachelorette” in 2016. “We just are trusting that God brings things full circle. And just wish that everything would just get back to us being a family.”
Eight years later, Aaron Rodgers has cried foul about the segment.
“They go on a bullshit show and leave two empty chairs,” he said on “Enigma.” “They all agreed this was like a good thing to do, to leave two empty chairs at a stupid dating show that my brother just went on to get famous — his words, not mine — that he ended up winning.”
The athlete noted that he was never actually invited to the dinner and that the show was filmed during the football season.
Rodgers shared in the documentary series that the estrangement between him and his family goes back years.
“It goes back to stuff from high school that kind of made me feel distant,” he said. “Stuff in college, stuff postcollege. And I was quiet about it. ’Cause I thought the best way to do it was, just don’t talk about it publicly. And what do they do?”
After the “Bachelorette” episode first aired, Rodgers told reporters he hadn’t seen the show.
“I’ve always found that it’s a little inappropriate to talk publicly about some family matters, so I’m just — I’m not going to speak on those things, but I wish him well in the competition,” he said at the time.
HuffPost reached out to representatives for Jordan Rodgers for comment, but no one immediately responded.
Despite the lingering tension with his family, Aaron Rodgers insisted he has no ill will toward them in “Enigma.”
“You know, they’re living as best they can,” he said. “That is, still engulfed in organized religion, which works for them. That’s great. So as much as they might not like what they see, love and respect and gratitude for how I was raised, because it wouldn’t have turned me into who I am today.”
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He also said that his relationship with his family could improve, adding, “People ask me, ‘Is there hope for a reconciliation?’ I say, ‘Yeah, of course. Of course.’”