The Pat McAfee Present, hosted by the ex–NFL punter turned TV presenter, is the one program on ESPN that opens with a warning label. It was one of many few concessions McAfee made to his new Disney-owned employer when he introduced his YouTube hit to the community in September in a five-year, $85 million deal. The label urges viewers to please keep in mind that the present is “meant to be comedic informative”—leisure, in different phrases, not journalism—and that the customarily dopey opinions and typically false information shared by him or his visitors “don’t essentially replicate the beliefs” of anybody else at ESPN. The warning ends with a jokey plea: “Don’t sue us.”
McAfee is an athlete, not a reporter, and with regards to stuff like accuracy, he’s cautious to set the bar very low. He has develop into the epitome of athlete encroachment on terrain traditionally managed by nonathlete journalists, and to place it mildly, the journalists aren’t glad about it. McAfee couldn’t care much less.
Pat McAfee’s affect is larger than his viewers. His hours-long present airs throughout TV’s noon useless zone, when most sports activities followers are at work or faculty. It averages simply 332,000 reside viewers on its linear broadcast, in accordance with the latest figures from ESPN, and factoring in different platforms like ESPN’s YouTube channel and TikTok, its every day viewers tops out at slightly below 900,000—a fraction of the eight-figure viewership for Monday Night time Soccer. However the numbers belie how a lot consideration he will get for the extra provocative issues which are mentioned on the present, together with the dingbat views of the Jets quarterback and anti-vaxxer Aaron Rodgers. Airtime equals energy, and nobody at ESPN spends extra time on air than Pat McAfee. From the second he arrived, he’s arguably been the community’s most influential mouthpiece and indisputably its most polarizing.
For those who’re a newcomer to The Pat McAfee Present, it may be powerful to comply with. The present is crammed with locker-room joshing delivered within the outer-Pittsburgh Yinzer accent of McAfee’s youth. It’s certainly one of America’s extra unsung regional accents, tremendous enjoyable to mimic, however McAfee and his supporting panel of regulars—even those who aren’t from Pittsburgh—lay it on so thick, you may have to seek the advice of an English-to-Yinzer dictionary. Groups win chompionships. Joe Flacco, the title of the growing old Tremendous Bowl–profitable quarterback, is pronounced Jee-oh Flacc-kew. Even the ticker on the backside of the display screen has a Yinzer accent: Program is spelled “progrum.”
Everybody observes a agency costume code: down. Approach down. McAfee, who has bouffant hair that crests like a large wave at Nazaré, prefers black tees and white tanks. Boston Connor, certainly one of two members of McAfee’s peanut gallery referred to as the Poisonous Desk, has a porn ’stache, an intentional mullet, and an infinite provide of animal-stencil T-shirts: wolves, lions, elephants, snow owls. He seems to be as if he noticed Zach Galifianakis in The Hangover and thought to himself, That man seems to be superior. Ty Schmit, the opposite half of the Poisonous Desk, favors Inexperienced Bay Packers jerseys and College of Iowa hoodies. McAfee will typically wrap up segments by main all of them in a spherical of applause for themselves, like they simply aced a tackling drill. “Good seg, good seg,” he’ll say.
Watching an episode of The Pat McAfee Present is like attending mass at sports activities church. Since its inception in 2015 as a YouTube livecast on Barstool Sports activities and persevering with by means of its transfer to ESPN, the present has been broadcast from an infinite studio–slash–house gymnasium dubbed “the Thunderdome” on McAfee’s property exterior Indianapolis, town the place he spent eight seasons with the Colts as a punter. His co-stars all look like solid in his picture—jocular white dudes with beards—solely paler and softer of flesh. They’re not athletes, they’re not journalists, they’re not even notably good on TV, and but they’re on ESPN for 15 hours per week as a result of they’re associates with McAfee. When he actually will get rolling, his flock will take part with some call-and-response, however as a substitute of crying out “Amen” or “Reward Jesus,” they belch out a loud WHADD. Roughly translated, it means “Rattling proper.”
By the point McAfee retired unexpectedly from soccer at age 29 to pay attention full-time on The Pat McAfee Present, he’d made $15 million within the NFL, and in accordance with the prevailing knowledge on the time, he was out of his thoughts to stroll away from a job that paid him a fortune to kick a ball 5 or 6 instances a sport. Within the NFL, although, kickers are marginal figures who get the highlight solely once they screw up. On The Pat McAfee Present, he’s the pope. He typically describes himself as a “dumb punter” and his buddies on the present as “a set of stooges,” however he’s way more shrewd than he lets on, and he proved it when he accepted ESPN’s supply. (He’s additionally a daily panelist on ESPN’s School GameDay, and a commentator for the WWE’s Monday Night time Uncooked. McAfee may love professional wrestling much more than he loves soccer.)
The lads who watch The Pat McAfee Present—its viewers is sort of fully male—share lots in frequent with Pat McAfee. It’s on within the weight room on the crew coaching complicated (whadd), or in the lounge on the fraternity home (whadd), or on the TV above the bar at Buffalo Wild Wings (whadd). It’s like background noise for dedicated sports activities followers. It’s not a lot content material as pleasant firm. His viewers aren’t watching McAfee’s progrum with centered consideration, or for trenchant insights. They’re watching due to the simple camaraderie, as a result of he and his buddies are a high quality dangle, stable guys who like speaking sports activities and crushing beers.
In stark distinction with a lot of ESPN’s morning and daytime programming, with its fire-breathing takes and verbal warfare that 30 Rock as soon as lampooned with a pretend present referred to as Sports activities Shouting, The Pat McAfee Present has little or no battle. Nobody’s arguing or speaking over each other or placing visitors on the spot. That is certainly an enormous cause why so many notable sports activities figures are keen to return on the present.
In April alone, McAfee hosted the ladies’s basketball phenom Caitlin Clark; the San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy; UConn’s back-to-back national-champion head coach, Dan Hurley; and Main League Baseball’s high pitching prospect, Paul Skenes (higher identified to McAfee’s viewers as Livvy Dunne’s boyfriend). Throughout final week’s NFL Draft, McAfee provided a reminder about why he’s so worthwhile to ESPN, reserving a pair of coveted media-averse visitors: the previous New England Patriots head coach Invoice Belichick and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. They really feel comfy letting down their guard round McAfee as a result of he sees athletes, coaches, and the enterprise of sports activities by means of the identical prism that they do. ESPN could also be paying his wage, however McAfee is evident about the place his loyalties lie.
Since McAfee joined ESPN, he’s given only one prolonged interview of his personal, and it was to a well-liked podcast referred to as All of the Smoke hosted by the ex-NBA gamers Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, whom McAfee befriended throughout Jackson’s stint with the Indiana Pacers. McAfee doesn’t speak with journalists except it’s on his present and he’s the one doing the interviewing, they usually’re hardly ever invited. (He didn’t reply to my requests for an interview.) ESPN’s NFL correspondent and scoop machine Adam Schefter seems typically, and the NBA reporter Brian Windhorst has dropped by throughout the playoffs—largely to speak in regards to the Pacers—however they’re exceptions. Virtually from the leap, the suspicions between McAfee and ESPN journalists have been mutual.
When ESPN provided McAfee that $85 million, its mother or father firm, Disney, was within the midst of corporate-wide layoffs. ESPN was hit notably onerous. Numerous individuals acquired fired to pay for McAfee. But upon arriving, McAfee sounded harm that he didn’t get a hotter reception. Simply 4 months after becoming a member of the community, he accused ESPN executives of “actively making an attempt to sabotage” his present, and he referred to as out certainly one of them by title, the highly effective occasion and studio manufacturing chief Norby Williamson. Williamson, McAfee mentioned reside on air, was “a rat.”
It was a shocking second—the type of public airing of grievances that ESPN is famend for not tolerating. Many previous ESPN skills, akin to Jemele Hill (now a author for The Atlantic) and Invoice Simmons, have been pushed out for much much less. And but McAfee suffered no penalties. No suspension, no public reprimand. Then, three months later, Williamson was fired. If any doubt remained about who had the facility now at ESPN—the fits or the dumb punter—it vanished together with Williamson. McAfee might seemingly get away with something, after which boast about it in public. Earlier than Williamson acquired guillotined, McAfee bristled throughout his look on All of the Smoke on the notion that he’d gone after certainly one of his bosses: “I’m like, I don’t acquired a motherfucking boss! What are we … like, are we speaking [ESPN Chairman] Jimmy Pitaro or [Disney CEO] Bob Iger? Is that who we’re speaking about? As a result of these are individuals who might technically be described as my boss.”
No relationship, although, higher crystallizes the rising enmity between McAfee and ESPN’s information division than his continued indulgence of his good good friend, the New York Jets quarterback, defiant anti-vaxxer, ayahuasca fanatic—and, for a quick second, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s rumored operating mate—Aaron Rodgers.
On October 23, 2023, throughout certainly one of his weekly appearances on The Pat McAfee Present, Rodgers took a veiled shot on the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce, referring to Kelce as “Mr. Pfizer” for his participation in an consciousness marketing campaign urging individuals to get vaccinated towards COVID. McAfee made certain to notice on air that he was vaccinated, an implicit rejection of Rodgers’s place, however he didn’t problem his good friend about it and he expressed shock afterward that anybody anticipated him to. That’s not the road of labor he’s in, people. He was simply kibbitzing together with his freethinking good friend.
Then on January 2, 2024, Rodgers shared on McAfee’s present a slanderous rumor in regards to the late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and Jeffrey Epstein that deserves no repeating right here. Kimmel’s present airs on ABC, which, like ESPN, is owned by Disney, which means that McAfee had let his buddy use his platform to smear a co-worker. Kimmel responded angrily on X, calling Rodgers “a soft-brained wacko” and threatening to sue. This time, even McAfee appeared to know that Rodgers had gone too far. Later that day, he met with the one two individuals at Disney he acknowledges as authority figures, Jimmy Pitaro and Bob Iger, then expressed contrition throughout his broadcast the subsequent day. He chalked it as much as “shit speak” gone awry and added, “We apologize for being a part of it.”
As soon as once more, there was no evident self-discipline for McAfee. And per week later, Rodgers was proper again on the present for his common look, throughout which the quarterback notably did not apologize to Kimmel. (The subsequent day, McAfee introduced that Rodgers wouldn’t return to this system for the rest of the NFL season, however nobody significantly doubts that he’ll be again earlier than the autumn.)
Two months later, CNN reported that Rodgers had, in non-public conversations, expressed suspicions that the bloodbath at Sandy Hook Elementary College was a authorities inside job. After Rodgers tweeted a denial—“I’m not and have by no means been of the opinion that the occasions didn’t happen”—McAfee learn it aloud on his present. “I’m glad to listen to that,” McAfee mentioned. “That’s excellent news.” Anybody anticipating McAfee to denounce his good friend ought to’ve identified higher by then.
On All of the Smoke, after the Kimmel smear however earlier than the Sandy Hook nonsense, McAfee shared that he’d misplaced sleep over his function within the Rodgers saga, saying, “Possibly I’m fucking this up fully.” However he additionally provided a novel protection, which is that his relationship with Rodgers had enabled him to tease out a extra sincere and full portrait of a historic determine in sports activities. “Each time there’s documentaries made about Aaron Rodgers, they’re going to use a lot of our present,” he mentioned. “Is that not journalism?”
No. It isn’t. Journalism requires an energetic pursuit of the reality. This was extra like stepping on a rake. He’s not fully improper, although. We are able to debate without end the ethics of platforming public figures who say odious issues, however it’s additionally true that Rodgers was thought of among the many extra considerate, intellectually curious stars within the NFL. And now, thanks in no small measure to The Pat McAfee Present, we’ve heard sufficient of his self-satisfied, moronic bloviating to know higher.
April 5 had all of the makings of a triumphant day for McAfee: Williamson had been fired within the morning, and the present could be broadcasting reside from Lincoln Monetary Subject in Philadelphia, web site of that weekend’s WrestleMania XL. Borrowing from the School GameDay script, McAfee likes to take his present on the highway, and wherever he goes, he’s greeted by a brigade of followers packed behind his broadcast platform like thick stogies. Today, no less than 20 p.c of them had pretend championship belts slung over their shoulders like they have been Triple H. You may swap any of them for Boston Connor, and nobody would discover for an hour, together with Pat. “Mac-uh-fee!” they chanted. “Mac-uh-fee! Mac-uh-fee!”
Straight away, although, one thing went improper. To viewers at house, nothing appeared amiss, however inside the sector, the sound wasn’t working. The followers couldn’t hear something. McAfee didn’t understand till sound technicians began scrambling behind the rostrum, frantically working to rectify the state of affairs. Now the group started a brand new chant: “We would like audio system! We would like audio system!” Minutes of airtime handed. McAfee’s temper soured. “Clearly a large week in Philadelphia—we’ve acquired all these individuals watching us, can’t hear a rattling factor we’re saying,” he mentioned. “One of the uncomfortable conditions I’ve ever been positioned in in my total life proper now.” Each time he tried to maneuver ahead with the present, the group would lower him off and begin chanting once more, and now they have been getting salty. “Bulllll-shiiiit! Bullll-shiiiit! Bulllshiiiit!”
On TV, you might see the panic bleed into McAfee’s eyes because it dawned on him how unhealthy this might get. This was a three-hour broadcast. In the event that they began bringing out WWE legends and the sound nonetheless wasn’t mounted—people, this was a wrestling crowd in Philadelphia. They’d completely activate him. The state of affairs required McAfee and his Poisonous Desk to do one thing they have been deeply ill-prepared for: be tv professionals. Purchase time. Improvise.
As an alternative, McAfee and his panelists exchanged small speak for some time like they have been ready for an elevator to reach. Apropos of nothing, Pat congratulated two crew members named Nick and Carly, who’d apparently simply had a child, and led the panel in a spherical of applause for them. A producer handed a cell microphone to Boston Connor and instructed him to go interview followers, however Connor doesn’t actually know the way to try this, so as a substitute he approached somebody dressed because the WWE star Cody Rhodes and, unprovoked, referred to as him a “crybaby bitch.”
Something can occur on reside tv, because the cliché goes, which is why TV professionals at all times have a plan B. McAfee, although, barely has a plan A. Even on its higher days, his present is slapdash to the purpose that it seems like an act of defiance, like a noogie to the heads of all these fits in Bristol. (“We don’t actually prefer to plan or assume issues out,” McAfee says typically.) Lastly, after greater than half-hour, the sound within the enviornment acquired mounted. McAfee, champion of the working man, led the panel in one other spherical of applause: “Massive shout-out to the Philadelphia union for coming by means of,” he mentioned. He hinted that it should have been the fits, who have been at all times out to get him, who’d screwed up. “Hey, I come from Pittsburgh. Imagine me, I very a lot perceive your complete strategy of your complete factor.” No matter had gone improper, dysfunction was now restored.
