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Aaron Rodgers, Erin Andrews Conduct Socially Distanced Interview, Then Share Maskless Hug
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes and sideline reporters across virtually all sports have been conducting socially distanced interviews to help keep the threat of transmission to/from each other as low as possible. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Fox sideline reporter Erin Andrews followed protocol Saturday night after Green Bay's narrow win over Cleveland.
Yet, after the interview was over, with Fox's cameras still rolling, the two went in for a maskless hug. The moment caught some flak on social media, with some fans and analysts pointing out the contradictory actions.
Here's the clip, via the NFL Network. After the interview concludes, around the 2:40 mark, Rodgers removes his headset. The two then share an embrace.
“I got to sit behind a legend for three years and see what greatness looked like first hand. That’s an experience that changed my life forever.”@AaronRodgers12 discusses what it means to him breaking @BrettFavre’s record. pic.twitter.com/u6occzr2Kc
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) December 26, 2021
It's unclear at this point whether Rodgers is vaccinated, but all learned quite emphatically in early November that, at that point, he was not. Rodgers, back in August, told reporters he was "immunized" against COVID-19. After contracting COVID-19 in November, a report from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport suggested he was actually unvaccinated. He later went on The Pat McAfee Show to explain that he'd tried an alternative treatment because, as he said, he was allergic to an ingredient in two of the three major vaccines.
The reaction on social media was about what you'd expect.
Erin Andrews stood like 10 feet from Aaron Rodgers on camera.
— Colin Dunlap (@colin_dunlap) December 26, 2021
Interview ends.
Erin Andrews hugs Aaron Rodgers.
All on national TV.
And we wonder why the country is confused as hell.
Thank goodness Aaron Rodgers and Erin Andrews kept six feet apart during the interview to stay safe ... before exchanging a hug together afterward.
— Scot Bertram (@ScotBertram) December 26, 2021
Erin Andrews hugging Aaron Rodgers at the end of a socially distanced interview is the TV equivalent of wearing your mask on the way to the table and then taking it off for the rest of the meal.
— Alex Reimer (@AlexReimer1) December 26, 2021
As for the result of the game itself, Green Bay's win puts the franchise in the driver's seat in the NFC with just two games left on the schedule. If they win both, the Packers will be the No. 1 seed in the conference. Cleveland, meanwhile, fell to 7–8 and will need to win its final two games to even have a shot at making the playoffs.
