Skip Bayless said things are “great” between him and Troy Aikman after years of discussion, which became public when Bayless addressed a rumor that Aikman was gay in his 1996 book “Hell-Bent.”

During an appearance on the latest episode of the “Pardon My Take” podcast with hosts Dan “Big Cat” Katz and PFT Commenter (Eric Sollenberger), Bayless explained that Aikman “has been nothing but good to me” after they “came back ‘. ‘ and walked past it.

“Great. We’re in touch, we’re friends,” Bayless said before asking PFT if he was referring to the fallout from Bayless’ book.

“Did you suggest or say in the book that he was gay?” PFT asked.

“I didn’t say… you obviously didn’t read it,” Bayless said, prompting Big Cat to say, “We don’t read it.”

Bayless said he was shocked that the former Cowboys quarterback initially didn’t like his book.

“If you read my book, you would love the way I portrayed Troy in my book because Troy was the hero of that book,” Bayless said. “I liked my portrait of him so much that I signed a book and hand-delivered the very first copy of my book to Troy on the camp practice field at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas.

“The first day of camp, training was over, I grabbed my book and gave it to him. And I was shocked that he didn’t like it at first. But we’ve come back and he’s been nothing but wonderful to me. And we text.”

Aikman has yet to address Bayless’ comments.

In the book, Bayless never said that Aikman was gay, but instead discussed a rumor that he claimed was spread by then-Cowboys head coach Barry Switzer’s camp.

Bayless did not investigate the rumor further after speaking with Aikman’s agent Leigh Steinberg, a Dallas police source, a team source and sportscaster Dale Hansen, all of whom say Aikman is not gay.

Aikman made it known that their rift lived on when he publicly rebuked Fox Sports’ decision to hire Bayless in 2016.

“To say I am disappointed in the hiring of Skip Bayless would be a massive understatement,” Aikman told Sports Illustrated at the time. “I believe success is achieved through acquiring and developing talented, respected and credible individuals, none of which applies to Skip Bayless.”

Aikman was Fox’s top NFL analyst at the time before moving to ESPN in 2022 — and Bayless left Fox Sports when his contract expired in August to create digital work.