Current:Home > NewsPat McAfee says comments calling out ESPN executive were a 'warning shot'-LoTradeCoin
Pat McAfee says comments calling out ESPN executive were a 'warning shot'
View Date:2024-12-23 18:47:42
Pat McAfee said his comments blasting an ESPN executive were a warning shot.
The radio show host and former NFL punter went on the "All the Smoke" podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson and explained previous comments he made on his own platform, "The Pat McAfee Show." In January, McAfee said Norby Williamson, ESPN's executive editor and head of event and studio production, was "attempting to sabotage our program."
"I thought that was a warning shot to that guy," McAfee said in a clip posted on "All the Smoke's X account, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. "... I guess a lot of people have a lot of fear of him. I do not. That guy left me sitting in his office for 45 minutes, no-showed me when I was supposed to have a meeting with him. ... He also banned all my friends from coming on my show. There was a ban of ESPN talent on my show on YouTube that came directly from him."
McAfee's show became popular on YouTube before ESPN licensed it, positioning it to replace the noon time slot for "SportsCenter." That's when McAfee said he noticed tension from within the company. There was also friction after Aaron Rodgers used his weekly spot on the program to blast Jimmy Kimmel, speculating that the comedian was among those allegedly involved in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
"There became like a war almost from behind scenes from 'SportsCenter' people and people that had been at ESPN a long time against us coming in and taking their jobs and all this other (expletive)," he said. "I didn't see it like that. We were like pumped we made it to the big leagues. Hey I'm pumped we're on the worldwide leader. That's how I viewed it. ... Immediately, it's like, 'This guy sucks. This guys's ruining ESPN.' It's not coming from people outside ESPN, it's coming from people within ESPN and I did not expect that at all. So I'm immediately like okay, we're at war. If that's what we're doing, we're at war.
"And then once you start learning about how (expletive) is going behind 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. They're trying to make our show impossible to advertise with, they're trying to make sure people don't watch our show. As I started learning that, I'm like, alright, I don't know how this has gone in the past with other people, but this particular white trash kid from Pittsburgh, hey suits, this ain't, this is not how this is gonna go."
McAfee said he didn't appreciate the media coverage of his initial comments directed toward Williamson that said he was calling out his "boss." McAfee said he views himself as an equal to Williamson and reports to ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro and Disney CEO Bob Iger. Disney owns ESPN.
"I'm the executive producer of my show," McAfee said. "I report directly to Jimmy and Bob. I'm not really viewing anybody, like I saw everybody, 'Pat calls out his boss.' I don't got a (expletive) boss. We talking Jimmy Pataro or Bob Iger, is that who we're talking about? 'Cause those are people that could technically be described as my boss."
McAfee expresses regret for how big his comments got, especially that Pitaro and ESPN's head of content Burke Magnus were caught up in the controversy.
"I did not expect the backlash afterwards," he said. "People were attacking Burke because it made him look sloppy 'cause it's inside the building. People were attacking Jimmy because it looks sloppy. And that was something that I did not think about. I was very apologetic about. I didn't mean to take down my allies, to make allies look bad in the whole thing.
"But I genuinely did not expect it to get as big as it did because I didn't think I said anything that was that crazy. I'm a pretty good talker, I'm a pretty good promo cutter. Like if I really wanted to saw (expletive) down, I thought I could have done it in a much bigger way and I did not. So I was actually pretty proud of myself. I was like, look at me. I'm an adult. And then it got loud."
veryGood! (376)
Related
- Army veteran reunites with his K9 companion, who served with him in Afghanistan
- 'Something profoundly wrong': Marine biologists puzzled by large beaching of pilot whales
- Bed Bath & Beyond is back, this time as an online retailer
- Seattle monorail hits and kills a 14-year-old boy who was spray painting a building
- Charles Hanover: Caution, Bitcoin May Be Entering a Downward Trend!
- Miami is Used to Heat, but Not Like This
- Memphis police shoot man who fired gun outside a Jewish school, officials say
- Trader Joe's recalls broccoli cheddar soup, frozen falafel for containing bugs and rocks
- It's cozy gaming season! Video game updates you may have missed, including Stardew Valley
- Colorado teen pleads not guilty to trying to join Islamic State group
Ranking
- Tony Todd, star of 'Candyman,' 'Final Destination,' dies at 69
- Trump's push to block GA probe into 2020 election rejected, costly Ukraine gains: 5 Things podcast
- Wife of Gilgo Beach murder suspect: ‘Everything is destroyed' after husband's arrest
- Cowboys running back Ronald Jones suspended 2 games for PED violation
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul press conference highlights: 'Problem Child' goads 'Iron Mike'
- Mom of missing Arizona teen who surfaced after 4 years says family being harassed
- Man shot, critically injured by police after he fired gun outside Memphis Jewish school
- Bo Bichette slams on brakes, tweaks right knee on basepaths
Recommendation
-
Digital Finance Research Institute Introduce
-
Fruit fly found in Asia forces partial quarantine of Los Angeles County: CDFA
-
Pac-12 leaders receive details of media deal, but no vote to accept terms as future remains murky
-
11 dead and 27 missing in flooding around Beijing after days of rain, Chinese state media report
-
Does the NFL have a special teams bias when hiring head coaches? History indicates it does
-
Flashing X installed on top of Twitter headquarters in San Francisco – without a permit from the city
-
Reward increased for arrests of ‘anarchists’ who torched Atlanta police motorcycles
-
Thermo Fisher Scientific settles with family of Henrietta Lacks, whose HeLa cells uphold medicine