Aaron Rodgers’ New ‘Big Pharma’ Connection Makes Twitter Laugh

Aaron Rodgers — AKA Mr. Anti-Vax — wants to play for the New York Jets, he says, and he doesn’t care who knows it. The idea of playing in New York so titillates the surefire Hall of Fame QB that nothing — not even a conviction that the pharmaceutical industry is out to get him — is going to change his mind. With Rodgers and the Jets, it’s as Buddy the Elf says:

The Jets, of course, are owned by Christopher Johnson and Woody Johnson, two of the (many) heirs to the enormous pharmaceutical fortune created by Johnson & Johnson, founded in 1886. (Neither Johnson is active in the company today.)

In talking about how he was targeted by Big Pharma, Rodgers has even mentioned J&J by name, implying that the media was beholden to the giant companies and therefore wanted to squelch his anti-vax ideas.

“Whether or not they’re sponsored by Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson, whatever it might be,” Rodgers said, “When you go up against some of those powers that be, put yourself in the crosshairs, they’re gonna paint you a certain way. And that’s what the media did to me a couple of years ago. That’s fine.” 

There is no doubt that Johnson & Johnson is powerful.

In 2020, the company’s pharmaceutical division, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, generated $45.6 billion in revenue, making it the seventh-largest pharmaceutical company by revenue that year. J&J is widely considered to be one of the most influential and powerful pharmaceutical companies in the world, with a diverse range of products and services across the healthcare sector.

There is no signal yet from the Rodgers camp that he will forego his salary on the principle that the money comes derives from ill-gotten Big Pharma profits. Indeed, Jets owner Woody Johnson has made multiple fortunes unrelated to Big Pharma, so Rodgers check could emanate from real estate, finance, even the very lucrative NFL business itself.

Still that didn’t stop Twitter from having fun with Rodgers and his choice of who to play for.

I love that Aaron Rodgers, the biggest critic of Big Pharma in professional sports, came out of the darkness and realized that he wants to work for the billionaire heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune

— Pablo Torre (@PabloTorre) March 15, 2023