Molly Knight Responds to Aaron Rodgers: 'I Do Not Work for the Wall Street Journal'
Reporter Molly Knight, formerly of The Athletic, responded to Aaron Rodgers after he misidentified her as the author of The Wall Street Journal's 'COVID toe' article.
"Since there seems to be some confusion: I did not write the Aaron Rodgers Covid toe article," the journalist tweeted. "I do not work for the Wall Street Journal. Please stop all this hate. Thank you."
WSJ's Andrew Beaton was the one who penned the story that the Packers quarterback is now requesting an apology for after media outlets took Rodgers's comments on The Pat McAfee Show at face value.
During the interview, Rodgers did not share much about his toe injury, saying that it was a "COVID injury" and that it was "a little painful."
"I felt good in just a few days without any lingering effects other than the COVID toe," Rodgers said. At another point in the interview, he said that the toe injury is actually a "bone issue."
Some media outlets, such as WSJ, published a story afterwards on Wednesday about the comment, which Rodgers later took issue with as he explained during a press conference that he really just had a "fractured toe."
“That’s actually called disinformation when you perpetuate false information about an individual,” Rodgers said, per Packers Central. “I have a fractured toe. So, I expect a full apology from Molly Knight and whoever her editor was. I did get a kick out of reading that article. That was very, very interesting, but I had never heard of COVID toe before. Pat made a joke about it on the show, and I mentioned yesterday that it’s worse than turf toe and it must be a bone issue. I can’t believe I have to again come on here and talk about my medical information It’s surprising coming from what used to be a reputable journalistic institution, but that’s the world we live in these days.”
In the hours following the press conference, Twitter users flocked to Knight's account, some deciding to harass her although all she did was reshare the WSJ's article.
Knight later released a statement on the matter, reiterating that she only shared the story before attending a spin class. She, then, decided to thank the Packers quarterback.
"I didn't write the article Rodgers is upset about, but I guess in the grand scheme of things it's not that big of a deal. I would like to thank Aaron for directing traffic to my twitter feed, where I am raising money for blankets for our unhoused neighbors," Knight wrote, in part. "It's getting cold, and the number of people who need help in Southern California has ballooned in recent years, so every bit of awareness helps."
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