Aaron Rodgers showed reporters his bare foot on a video call in a stunt to try to prove he hasn't really got 'COVID toe'

• Aaron Rodgers has backtracked on his claim that he has "COVID toe" with a press conference stunt.
• The Packers quarterback showed his bare foot to reporters to prove his toe was instead fractured.

Aaron Rodgers showed reporters his bare foot on a video call in an an astonishing attempt to prove he hasn't got "COVID toe," as he previously stated.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback said during an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Tuesday that he was suffering from the condition as a result from having COVID-19 earlier in the month.

COVID toe is a condition that can cause skin lesions on a person's toe after they have the disease.

As Insider's Jackson Thompson wrote earlier in the week, multiple studies suggested that the condition is caused by an overly aggressive immune response against the virus. It can last for months after COVID-19 recovery, the studies show.

On Wednesday, however, Rodgers — who has previously acknowledged that he made misleading statements about his COVID vaccination status — said in a virtual press conference that he was only joking about having "COVID toe" and had really just fractured his toe.

In an attempt to prove it, he held up his bare foot to the camera.

"Oh! Oh, there's no lesions whatsoever! Oh, what a surprise!" said the 37-year-old sarcastically as he displayed his foot. "No, that's actually called disinformation, when you perpetuate false information about individuals.

"I have a fractured toe. No, I'd never heard of COVID toe before. Pat made a joke about it on the show, and I mentioned yesterday that it's worse than a 'turf toe' and it must be a bone issue.

Rodgers then accused the press of "disinformation," despite having said only 24 hours previously that he did indeed have COVID toe.

"I can't believe I have to come on here and talk about my medical information. But yeah, I have a fractured toe, I've never heard of COVID toe before, I have no lesions on my feet. That's just a classic case of disinformation."

He later changed his Twitter profile picture to a shot of his toes. As of Friday the photo remains on his profile.

Rodgers' injured toe forced him to leave the pitch during Sunday's defeat to the Minnesota Vikings.

The quarterback had only recently returned from 10 days out due to a positive COVID-19 test, which is the NFL's the safety protocols for unvaccinated players.

Rodgers had previously claimed that he was "immunized" against COVID.

He later admitted that he had "misled some people" about vaccination status and was fined $14,650 by the NFL for attending a Halloween party while unvaccinated in violation of the league's rules.