‘I Don’t Take Back Anything!’ Pat McAfee Doubles Down On His Stunning On-Air Criticism of Top ESPN Exec
Pat McAfee isn’t backing down after he accused an ESPN executive of leaking information to the media in order to “sabotage” his show.
On Friday, McAfee took a moment during the final hour of The Pat McAfee Show to thank ESPN for its support since joining the network in September. Then, he made the stunning claim that Executive Vice President Norby Williamson tried to sabotage the show.
After those comments, McAfee then revealed that he and Williamson had some sort of history stemming from a supposed lack of respect Williamson had shown him in the past.
Per the agreement with ESPN, McAfee’s show is only on TV for its first two hours. The third hour streams on ESPN+ and YouTube. Because his comments toward Williamson weren’t on TV, McAfee somehow was under the impression no one would see it on his wildly popular show.
“That wasn’t even on linear TV,” McAfee said. “I didn’t know anyone was gonna hear it because it was just on digital.”
“I guess everybody did hear it. It was the topic of discussion, obviously, the entire weekend.”
McAfee added that the one thing he regretted was fact that ESPN President Burke Magnus was “made to look bad” as a result of his on-air comments.
“I would like everybody to know we love Burke Magnus,” McAfee said. “And also love [ESPN Chairman] Jimmy Pitaro. Love [Disney CEO] Bob Iger.
“But there is quite a transition era here between the old and new; and the old don’t like what the new be doing.”
McAfee also flatly denied the idea that he went rogue in order to get out of his deal with ESPN.
“Now, there’s certainly people we do not like,” McAfee said, “and they do not like us. That’s how it’s gonna be. And I don’t take back anything that I said about said person.
“But the overall storyline about us and ESPN: I think people need to remember we’re strong, baby. We are strong, baby. And we all understand what the future looks like. There’s just some old hags that potentially don’t.”
Watch above via ESPN
