Attorney Mark Bankston, who has represented Sandy Hook families, didn’t mince words when discussing Rodgers’ alleged false and conspiratorial beliefs.

Following a report claiming that New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers spread lies about the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, one lawyer representing families affected by the tragedy asked Rodgers to exercise more discretion when he spoke ― although the language he used was a little more colorful.

In a CNN story Wednesday, reporter Pamela Brown described an interaction she had with Rodgers in 2013, in which he falsely claimed that the Sandy Hook attack ― which left 20 children and six adults dead ― was orchestrated by the government.

Another source, not identified by name in the CNN piece, claimed that Rodgers had also said “Sandy Hook never happened,” and that “all those children never existed. They were all actors.”

Dangerous conspiracies like these were at the center of several lawsuits that Sandy Hook families filed against Infowars host Alex Jones, who spent years falsely claiming that various parents who lost their children to gun violence were “actors.”

  • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I think it’s wild you’ve been downvoted for this. Clearly these people haven’t read the article.

    On Thursday, Rodgers did not deny the comments he made to Brown or the other source, but said on X, “As I’m on the record saying in the past, what happened in Sandy Hook was an absolute tragedy. I am not and have never been of the opinion that the events did not take place. Again, I hope that we learn from this and other tragedies to identify the signs that will allow us to prevent unnecessary loss of life. My thoughts and prayers continue to remain with the families affected along with the entire Sandy Hook community.”

    You can’t sue someone for defamation if they’ve never publicly defamed you. Otherwise I could just find someone to start claiming you said shit back in 2013 and sue you.

    I’m not saying he didn’t say it. Or that he isn’t a piece of shit. I’m saying his public position on the issue has never been that it was fake, unlike Alex Jones.