Pat McAfee has a long history of giving unfiltered commentary on numerous topics, which was part of the draw for ESPN licensing “The Pat McAfee Show.” And as ESPN has seen time and again, its payments to McAfee have not stopped the brash personality from criticizing or making fun of the world’s biggest sports network.
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This week McAfee joked about the network’s use of fake names to secure Emmys for its “College GameDay” talent, a scandal that prompted ESPN to return statuettes that had been improperly obtained for on-air personalities who were not eligible to win in certain categories. During an interview with Kirk Herbstreit on “The Pat McAfee Show,” McAfee prompted a discussion that led to Herbstreit revealing he had eight of his Emmy awards repossessed as the scheme was investigated.
“So what are you guys gonna call me? … Pete McOnfee? Pete McConnell?” McAfee said Wednesday, after “College GameDay” won its ninth sports Emmy in the weekly studio show category.
Herbstreit, who appears on “College GameDay” along with McAfee, shared details of how some of the awards were removed from his home in Nashville. The Athletic previously reported on the scheme in which ESPN inserted fake names in the Emmy entries — including for a Kirk Henry to stand in for Herbstreit — then took the awards won by imaginary individuals and had them re-engraved for on-air personalities. Although it is not clear who was responsible for the scheme, there is no evidence that any on-air personalities were aware that any Emmys given to them were improperly obtained.
“I was naive to the whole thing,” Herbstreit told McAfee. “I thought obviously the people on the set would get an Emmy. So all these years I didn’t know that, I didn’t know what was going on. … I just thought, ‘Hey it finally came. Where’s it been?’ I stuck it on the mantle and we kind of move on.
“Then the last year or two years ago they said, ‘Oh no, that was not supposed to go to you guys on the set. So we’ve got to take them all back.’ And I was like, ‘Well, I’m not at my house in Nashville, you’re going to have to go get them.’ They’re like, ‘OK. No problem.’ They went down and got them and took eight of my 13 of (the awards) out of the house.”
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ESPN, when reached Friday, declined to comment on McAfee or Herbstreit’s appearance on McAfee’s show. The network referred back to its previous statement on the Emmy statuettes, which said team members who submitted fake names were wrong and that current leadership apologized for violating submission guidelines once made aware of the situation. ESPN has also said it overhauled its submission process to ensure this wouldn’t happen again.
The interaction with Herbstreit was just the latest example of McAfee using his thoughts about decision-makers in Bristol, Conn., as fodder for his show.
In perhaps the most high-profile instance of McAfee’s criticism against the network, he accused former ESPN executive Norby Williamson in January of sabotaging “The Pat McAfee Show” by leaking false viewership information to the media and called Williamson a “rat.”
“There are some people actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN,” McAfee said. “More specifically, Norby Williamson is the guy who is attempting to sabotage our program.”
Three months after McAfee’s comments, ESPN said in a staff memo that Williamson — who spent nearly four decades at the company — would no longer be working there.
“This had absolutely nothing to do with the Pat McAfee episode,” former ESPN EVP Mark Shapiro, who worked closely with ESPN president of content Burke Magnus and Williamson and is now the president of Endeavor and TKO, told The Athletic at the time. “Norby wasn’t fully aligned on the content vision Jimmy (Pitaro) and Burke had set. More than anything else after his incredible run, it was time to pass the torch.”
McAfee’s targeting of Williamson happened after New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” in early January, alleged that late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel would appear in court documents from a case filed against Jeffrey Epstein before his death. The documents included names of more than 150 people that had previously been redacted from court filings. Kimmel’s name did not appear in any of the documents.
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“We obviously don’t like the fact that we are associated with anything negative, ever,” McAfee said about the situation. “We like our show to be an uplifting one, a happy one, a fun one. But it’s because we talk s— and try to make light of everything.
“Some things, obviously people get very pissed off about especially when they (are) serious allegations. So we apologize for being a part of it.”
McAfee announced in January that Rodgers would no longer appear on “The Pat McAfee Show” for the remainder of the NFL season, only for Rodgers to make a surprise appearance on the show the following day.
Earlier this week, McAfee — a former Indianapolis Colts punter — mocked ESPN, including announcers Mike Wilbon and Doris Burke, for what McAfee suggested was biased coverage favoring the New York Knicks during their second-round playoff series against the Indiana Pacers. McAfee has made no secret of his rooting interest, as he sat in Tyrese Haliburton’s courtside seats in a Pacers jersey for Game 4.
“If you were to watch TV, anyone who had a microphone, maybe some makeup on, a large platform — boy, you could see them actually callusing their knees, praying to god that the New York Knicks would take on the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals,” McAfee said Monday after the Pacers won Sunday’s Game 7 to clinch the series.
“On-air personalities, TV, before the game: ‘This is what the Knicks are going to have to do to win this game.’ Halftime, Mike Wilbon: ‘There’s no way the Pacers are going to be able to keep shooting the way,'” McAfee said. “They did! Greatest shooting performance in the history of Game 7s in the NBA Playoffs.”
He also mentioned Burke by name: “There was a time actually when they announced Jalen Brunson’s hand was broke where it seemed like Doris Burke didn’t even talk. Devastation hit the booth. Devastation hit the TV.”
In April, McAfee’s show also took aim at ESPN’s reporting on Bill Belichick’s failed NFL job hunt, with one of the show’s members, Boston Connor, spending considerable time running through various issues he perceived with the story, including the use of anonymous quotes in the article.
"It's hard to believe that a guy who has been in the NFL since 1975 would be blindsided by anything..
A lot of the quotes in the article don't really say where they came from" ~ @BostonConnr #PMSLive https://t.co/LKXplQrZaH pic.twitter.com/Uzhn0q3K0D
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 17, 2024
McAfee’s position of power has been clear since he moved his show to ESPN in May 2023 as part of a multiyear agreement. ESPN licenses the show and McAfee has creative control of the content, including guest booking.
As The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch wrote in January about the dynamic, McAfee would likely be able to find a new media deal quickly if he left ESPN. And his prominent role on “College GameDay,” where he often works with Herbstreit, is under a separate deal from the one for his main show.
(Photo: Andrew Wevers / USA Today)
Alex Andrejev is a staff editor on the news team. Before joining The Athletic, she covered NASCAR and Charlotte FC for The Charlotte Observer and was a reporting intern on the sports desk for The Washington Post. She grew up near Washington, D.C.
