Aaron Rodgers Offers Thoughts on Conspiracies Around Obama-Produced Movie

Aaron Rodgers does not seem to be someone who will turn away a conversation about conspiracy theories.

In his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, the New York Jets quarterback was asked about the new movie Leave the World Behind, which was co-produced by former President Barack Obama. The hosts referenced conspiracy theories surrounding the film, which Rodgers said he has seen.

"I thought it was thought-provoking for sure," Rodgers said with a smile. "I know a lot of people are talking about predictive programming. There are some interesting little Easter eggs. It's unique. Very unique."

Former Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk, who regularly joins the show, asked Rodgers what the conspiracy theories were.

Rodgers laughed.

"Where do you start?" he said.

Newsweek reached out to Rodgers' representation by email for comment.

Leave the World Behind has a critic score of 75 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but just 37 percent of viewers enjoyed it.

The movie (spoilers ahead) depicts the collapse of the American government, and according to director Sam Esmail, Obama had "a lot of notes."

"In the original drafts of the script, I definitely pushed things a lot farther than they were in the film, and President Obama, having the experience he does have, was able to ground me a little bit on how things might unfold in reality," Esmail told Vanity Fair in September.

"I am writing what I think is fiction, for the most part, I'm trying to keep it as true to life as possible, but I'm exaggerating and dramatizing. And to hear an ex-president say you're off by a few details....I thought I was off by a lot!"

"Predictive programming," which Rodgers referenced, is a conspiracy theory that the government, or other forces in power, use fiction (whether books, movies or some other medium) to make a population accept future events that have been planned by people in power.

Rodgers hasn't made his interest in conspiracy theories a secret. The 40-year-old often makes reference to his distrust of the COVID-19 vaccine, and he mocked Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce earlier this year for making commercials on behalf of the vaccine, calling him "Mr. Pfizer," even going so far as to challenge Kelce to a public debate on the topic.

"Have me on the podcast," Rodgers said on The Pat McAfee Show in October, referencing Kelce's podcast New Heights. "Come on the show. Let's have a conversation. Let's do it like in John Wick 4. We both have a second, somebody to help us out. I'm going to take my man [presidential candidate] RFK Jr. [Robert F. Kennedy] as an independent, and he can have [former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease[s] Director Anthony] Fauci or some other pharma-crat, and we can have a conversation about this."