ESPN host Pat McAfee is doubling down on his January comments on ESPN.
During an appearance on Showtime’s “All the Smoke,” the former NFL punter turned sports media personality called his remarks, which centered around network executive Norby Williamson, “a warning shot” and said he was not “a warning shot.” said there is no such thing as a “nefarious boss.” Podcast.
A clip of the new episode was posted Tuesday night, with the full episode scheduled to air Thursday, highlighting McAfee’s comments about his “war” with ESPN executives.
He previously accused Williamson of trying to “sabotage” McAfee’s eponymous program.
It appears that the feud between Aaron Rodgers and Jimmy Kimmel is not going away.
McAfee did not directly mention Williamson’s name during the podcast clip, but deemed his own earlier comments “just a warning to what I thought were like-minded people.” Ta. [level]”
“I am directly reporting to [ESPN president] jimmy [Pitaro] and [Disney CEO] bob [Iger]” McAfee said in the approximately six-minute clip. “I saw [media reporting] “Pat calls the boss.” I don’t have a fucking boss. What are we…? Are we talking about Jimmy Pitaro or Bob Iger?
“Oh, are those people we’re talking about? Because they’re technically my bosses.”
Mr. McAfee also reviewed a list of past issues with specific executives. These included no-shows and having to wait as long as 45 minutes, something McAfee previously claimed Williamson did to him.
“That guy hasn’t been a fan of me or a fan of what we do for a long time,” McAfee said on the podcast.
McAfee described his experience as being like “at war,” explaining that other ESPN staff members did not roll out a welcome wagon when he first arrived, replacing the midday broadcast on “SportsCenter.” He explained that it was.
But he expressed some regret about the impact of his comments on the network’s allies, including Pitaro and ESPN’s president of content Burke Magnus.
“I really didn’t expect it to get this big, because I never thought I’d say something that crazy,” McAfee said. “You know what I’m saying, right? … I thought if I really wanted to see my mother fall, I could have done it in a bigger way. And I didn’t. So I actually did it myself. I was very proud of that.
“I was like, ‘Look, I’m an adult.’ And then it got louder.”
