In the wake of Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun's suspension, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said he felt "disappointed" and "hurt" by his friend lying to him, Pro Football Talk reports.
Despite allegations of Braun using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), Rodgers chose to believe Braun's denial of any wrongdoing.
Rodgers insisted his friend was clean. He had so much faith in his friend, in fact, that on Twitter he bet an entire year of his NFL salary on Braun being PED-free. Now, with Braun seemingly admitting his use of PEDs by taking a 65-game suspension, Rodgers has egg on his face.
"I was shocked, I really was, just like many of you were," Rodgers told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, according to PFT. "I was backing up a friend. He looked me in the eye on multiple occasions and repeatedly denied these allegations and said they were not true. So, it is disappointing, not only for myself as a friend, but for obviously Wisconsin sports fans, Brewers fans, really baseball fans.
"It doesn't feel great being lied to like that and I'm disappointed in the way it all went down."
Rodgers said "the thing that probably hurts the most" is Braun, someone he trusted, lied to his face.
Aside from being friends, Rodgers and Braun are also business partners in a restaurant venture. He said the status of their partnership was "yet to be determined," and he declined to directly answer whether Braun remained a friend.
The MLB announced on Monday that Braun would be suspended for the remainder of the season without pay.
"As I have acknowledged in the past, I am not perfect," Braun said in a statement, according to USA Today Sports. "I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions."
Braun was the first player suspended since the league's investigation into Biogenesis, a lab reportedly providing PEDs to athletes, began. His suspension is likely the first of many to come.
