Pat McAfee reveals death threats and hints at fresh feud with ESPN chiefs
Pat McAfee has claimed that 'old white people' and 'old ESPN people' are among his biggest critics after sharing hateful and threatening comments he's received on social media
ESPN host Pat McAfee has responded to hate comments on social media and even claimed that some of his biggest critics are within the network.
McAfee is one of the most popular figures in sports media, but his untraditional style also leads to criticism. When signing McAfee to a five-year contract worth approximately $85 million, ESPN also made several employees redundant.
Despite sometimes triggering fans with his comments on The Pat McAfee Show and College GameDay, the former NFL punter also draws a large audience. However, he's recently opened up about receiving death threats and claimed that 'old white people' and 'old ESPN people' hate him.
McAfee shared screenshots of hate comments on Instagram, with several users claiming they aren't fans of the ESPN host. Several fans claimed that they no longer watch ESPN because of him, but McAfee admitted that he receives abuse daily, some of which are death threats.
"I just got done with a little morning workout, it was nice to read those comments," McAfee said, referencing his latest batch of abuse. "I'd just like to let all you old ----- know, I hate you too.
"Never got along with that class of people. Teachers, principals, you name it. Since I'm a kid. Always hated me. It's kind of a part of life now.
"Old white people, and old ESPN people, those are really the people that hate me most at this stage of life. Now, I get it, there's some other groups who have certainly threatened my life on a pretty regular basis.
"I'd say they hate me, too. But throughout the entirety, old whites and old ESPN people over the last three years have really hated me. That's who all the producers are of GameDay, too. It's been a fun run. College football is great. Cheers, have a great day."
While internet trolls are unfortunately a side effect of success in the modern world, McAfee has also publicly beefed with ESPN employees. McAfee accused former producer Norby Williamson of fabricating ratings for The Pat McAfee Show to underwhelm the success.
Williamson has since left ESPN after more than 40 years with the company. During an episode of The Pat McAfee Show, McAfee called out Williamson and suggested that other ESPN employees were also against him.
"We’re very thankful for the ESPN folks for being very hospitable," McAfee said during an episode of his show. "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. 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."