ESPN host, former West Virginia kicker and former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee has had an eventful week.
As the calendar turned to 2024, McAfee’s eponymous show found itself at the center of a firestorm of criticism when New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers falsely suggested on the program that ABC talk show host Jimmy Kimmel would be named in documents connected to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
That led to a scathing column from sports media critic Andrew Marchand in The New York Post, which in turn led McAfee Friday to accuse forces inside ESPN of sabotaging his show.
“Now, there are some people who are actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN,” McAfee said on Friday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show. “More specifically, I believe (ESPN vice president of studio production) Norby Williamson is the guy who is attempting to sabotage our program.”
Pat McAfee: "There are folks actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN. More specifically I believe Norby Williamson is the guy attempting to sabotage our program."https://t.co/ZJqJgk647X
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 5, 2024
McAfee signed a contract with ESPN in May, formalizing his lengthy courtship with the network.
“(Williamson) is seemingly the only human who has information, and then somehow that information gets leaked, and it’s wrong,” McAfee said. “Someone tried to get ahead of our actual ratings release with wrong numbers 12 hours beforehand. That’s a sabotage attempt. It’s been happening basically this entire season from some people who didn’t love the addition of The Pat McAfee Show to the ESPN family."
Since retiring from the NFL in 2016 after his age-29 season, McAfee has built a sizable following with his informal, self-referential style. However, he has invited controversy in the past with his reporting and has polarized viewers since joining College GameDay on a full-time basis in 2022.
Rarely has any on-air talent challenged ESPN this directly, making this saga a significant litmus test for McAfee and the network’s mutual commitment.
