The ticking stopwatch finally struck “go” time.
Last week, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers expressed disappointment regarding the manner in which he was portrayed in a 60 Minutes profile. On Thursday, Rodgers reiterated his concerns. In response, the respected news program opted to abandon the high road.
“Aaron Rodgers was never taken out of context and most anybody portrayed as he was on 60 Minutes would have been flattered by the story,” said CBS News chairman and 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager (pictured) in a statement, via Weston Hodkiewicz of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “It was fair and accurate and it was obvious we got it right when we reported that he tends to be overly sensitive.”
Rodgers’ initial complaint came from the failure of the profile to focus on his charity work. On Thursday, he downplayed comments to Scott Pelley regarding dirty teams in the NFL. “It was cut for their purposes, their agenda, and most of the answers were either just portions of a bigger answer or probably not even for the question that was asked. So, I’m not even going to touch that one,” Rodgers told reporters, via the Press-Gazette.
A partial transcript provided by CBS demonstrates what Rodgers did and didn’t say about defenses trying to take him out and bounties and dirty play. And while we’ve got no issue with CBS releasing a printed version of the words that were uttered by Rodgers, it was surprising to see Fager resort to something that sounds a lot like snark when talking about Rodgers’ actual or perceived sensitivity.
Though it’s not a show I’ve watched with any regularity over the years, it’s probably not the first time the subject of a 60 Minutes profile wasn’t completely thrilled with the outcome of the piece. Publicly engaging -- and potentially offending -- the folks who have expressed concern may not be the best way to get similarly-situated athletes and celebrities to agree to allow cameras and microphones to invade their space for an extended period of time.
Then again, maybe 60 Minutes is sensitive, too.