“The Pat McAfee Show” is on a post-NFL season break. But that doesn’t mean the program’s outspoken host is on vacation.
Indeed, McAfee has appeared on several other programs during his show’s planned hiatus. And on Thursday’s episode of the “All The Smoke” podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, he didn’t hold back in discussing some of his gripes with ESPN.
McAfee’s show is broadcast on ESPN. But in January, he expressed displeasure with how he was being treated by some executives at the company. That included a pointed call-out of executive editor Norby Williamson and other “suits” over at the sports giant.
In his discussion on “All the Smoke,” McAfee shed more light on his call-out of Williamson and the divide in opinions over his show among ESPN leadership. He also expressed support for ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro and director of content Burke Magnus.
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Here’s what to know about McAfee’s latest comments, in which he opened up on his call-out of Williamson and his relationships with others at ESPN.
Pat McAfee calls out ESPN’s Norby Williamson
McAfee’s original call-out of Williamson came in early January. The host accused the ESPN executive of trying to “sabotage” his show by manipulating its ratings.
“We’re very appreciative, and we understand that more people are watching this show than ever before,” McAfee said. “We’re very thankful for the ESPN folks for being very hospitable. Now, there are some people actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN — more specifically, I believe, Norby Williamson is the guy who is attempting to sabotage our program.”
“Now, I’m not 100 percent sure,” he added. “That is just seemingly the only human that has information, and then that information gets leaked, and it’s wrong, and it sets a narrative of what our show is.
“And then are we just gonna combat that from a rat every single time? Somebody tried to get ahead of our actual ratings release with wrong numbers 12 hours beforehand. That’s a sabotage attempt. It’s been happening this entire season from some people who didn’t necessarily love the old addition of ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ to the ESPN family. There’s a lot of those.”
McAfee’s comments went viral, and the host received support from former ESPN personalities Jemele Hill and Michele Beadle, among others. His comments also caused Pitaro and Magnus to receive backlash, which the 36-year-old host didn’t expect, as he revealed on the “All the Smoke” podcast.
MORE: Pat McAfee’s beef with Norby Williamson, explained
What did Pat McAfee say about his ESPN call-out?
As McAfee explained Thursday to Barnes and Jackson, his call-out of Williamson was meant to serve as a “warning shot” to the executive editor amid their ongoing feud. But it ended up creating a much bigger stir than he anticipated.
Williamson and McAfee had a tense relationship from even before McAfee’s time at ESPN, McAfee said Thursday.
“That guy was not a fan of me or our operation for a long time,” he said.
Williamson banned ESPN personalities such as Matt Hasselbeck, Dan Orlovsky and Jeff Passan from going on “The Pat McAfee Show” before the show joined ESPN, McAfee claimed. Eventually, McAfee resolved that situation after starting an “ESPN stinks” hashtag that drew the attention of Pitaro, who brokered a deal between the parties.
Yet the tension between McAfee and Williamson lingered after the host transitioned his show to ESPN. He expected to be welcomed into “the big leagues” with open arms.
Instead, McAfee felt like he was “at war” with the company because some executives saw his show as “ruining ESPN,” he said Thursday.
“Once you start learning about how s— is going behind the scenes, things that are being said to people, things that are being leaked, the timing in which they’re being leaked — it’s like oh, they’re trying to kill me,” McAfee said. “They’re trying to they’re trying to make our show impossible to advertise with. They’re trying to make sure people don’t watch our show.”
That didn’t sit well with McAfee, so he felt like calling out Williamson would send a message.
Ultimately, the story became bigger than McAfee expected, but he still didn’t see his call-out as a huge deal.
“I’m the executive producer of my show. I report directly to Jimmy and [Disney CEO] Bob [Iger],” McAfee said on the episode. “Like I saw everybody [saying] ‘Pat calls out his boss.’ I don’t got a motherf—ing boss. What are we …? We talking Jimmy Pitaro or Bob Iger? Like, is that who we’re talking about? Because those are people that could technically be described as my boss.”
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So, while McAfee was sorry to see Pitaro and Magnus brought into the crossfire, he didn’t express much regret about his actions.
Whether that stance results in any lingering tension between McAfee and Williamson (or ESPN at large) remains to be seen.
