Listeners of The Pat McAfee Show 2.0 were caught off guard today when the live SiriusXM show ended abruptly during the middle of an interview.
Host Pat McAfee and sports analyst A.J. Hawk were in the middle of an interview with UFA fighter Kamaru Usman when the power to their studio suddenly went out and their show was cut off, live from the airwaves.
A massive fire at a neighboring building had been burning as the show was airing. Fire marshals assured the team that they had the fire contained. But as the program went on, McAfee and crew began to smell smoke and chemicals entering their studio.
“That smoke smells! The paint from that place, the utilities, the plastic. That’s all just floating right into us,” McAfee could be heard saying in one part of the clip.
Producer Anthony DiGuilio notified the team, “The guys just came into the building. If the fire moves a little more this way, we’ll have to evacuate.”
Earlier in the show, a loud explosion could be heard. “Holy fuck!” McAfee said.
DiGuilio joked, “They’re doing a bunch of fire hydrants out there so maybe the top of the lid fell off. I don’t know.”
The crew cheered later as DiGuilio reported that the fire had been put out and the show could continue as normal.
Later, McAfee welcomed Usman to the show and before the
Behind-the-scenes footage shows producers and McAfee scrambling to make sure everything was alright and notifying their bosses at SiriusXM about the situation.
“So we just lost power in the middle of one of the greatest promos in history by pound-for-pound, number one fighter in the world Kamaru Usman,” McAfee said. “There’s a fire right next door. Let’s assume they cut off all the electricity. We’re fucked. Probably for the next few hours.”
The team wrote a statement on their YouTube channel to say, “Reports are that everyone is ok and we thank you all for checking in. We hope everything will be back to normal tomorrow. Everything but our emergency battery-powered devices/lights got cut OUT OF NOWHERE. Shoutout to the Indianapolis Fire Department.”
Listen above via The Pat McAfee Show 2.0.