That’s a good question…
Pat McAfee has been in the news quite a bit this week, after what some are calling an overblown reaction to his experience on College GameDay this past weekend at the University of Utah.
It started on Friday night when the University of Utah posted an Instagram video asking students to do their best impression of the GameDay host. One guy predicted that McAfee would say a “corny line” while making his game prediction, while another seemed to take issue with his tradition of taking his shirt off during the show – while imploring him to keep his clothes on:
“Bro Pat, we love you bro, but keep the shirt on. Noone’s trying to see that. We don’t care. These are college kids bro, keep your shirt on homie.”
(The video has since been deleted from the university’s page).
McAfee clearly wasn’t impressed by the university’s official accounts taking a shot at him, and even commented on it with the side-eye emoji. But things only got worse during the show’s weekly kicking contest, when a student at the university is given the chance to kick a field goal for a $1 million prize.
The weekend prior, when GameDay was at BYU, Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith put up an additional $1 million in the contest, while his business partner Ryan Sweeney pledged his own $1 million, making the grand prize for the kick worth $3 million – with $1 million of that going to charity.
Oh, and the kid (dressed as Spiderman) made the kick.
Well this week’s contestant in the kicking contest was a Utah student named Morgan, who questioned why her prize was only $1 million.
McAfee was visibly annoyed as he explained that there were two billionaires who contributed to the prize last week…and at the end of the day it didn’t matter because Morgan missed the kick anyway.
Apparently all that left a bad taste in McAfee’s mouth, because as he was making his prediction for the game at the end of the show he made it clear he wasn’t happy about his experience at Utah:
“Now, I will say, the person that won the kicking raffle said $1 million wasn’t enough, and then they go on to miss. The university’s Instagram account posted a little something about me, talking a little trash last night, which I certainly love.
It’s hard to pick against this mighty Utah student section…but I’m going to do it 10 times out of 10. Give me Houston coming out of here with a big time W.”
And as he signed off, he definitely didn’t sound like somebody who wanted to return to Salt Lake City any time soon – or ever:
“I’ll never see you again hopefully.”
Obviously McAfee’s comments raised eyebrows, and on Monday he opened up on his experience at Utah and made clear he has no intention of returning to the campus:
“Did not enjoy University of Utah. … You know why I didn’t like it mostly? Right before I go out there, I see the University of Utah’s Instagram page. The university’s. They put out a, ‘Hey can you do an impression of Pat McAfee?’ And one kid goes, ‘Oh, he’s corny.’ Another kid calls me ‘creepy.’”
He called the entire experience “uncomfortable” while referencing the Charlie Kirk shooting at Utah Valley University as a reason he felt the video was inappropriate:
“I’ve never been more uncomfortable, honestly, in my life walking in front of a group of people after watching their university put out a post basically dogging me just moments before. …
You got people that really hate my guts out there. Like really hate my guts. And I understand it, I guess. This is just a part of what life is, especially because I have a lot of things that are very hatable about me. I could certainly understand that. But the university gaslighting some of it right before I go out there to talk about your school, especially with what happened 40 miles south of Salt Lake City a little over a year ago?
It’s like, I did not enjoy that. I was very, very uncomfortable.”
Shortly after his comments, the University of Utah released a statement apologizing to McAfee and admitting that their social media content “missed the mark” ahead of the GameDay crew’s arrival:
“Our goal during the visit was to create lighthearted engagement regarding Pat being back on campus, but we missed the mark. University staff are responsible for reviewing and posting content on official social media accounts and we take full accountability for that decision.
University officials have reached out to Pat to express appreciation and regret. We sincerely apologize for creating any perception that Pat was unsafe or unwelcome on our campus. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pat and the entire GameDay crew are always welcome at the University of Utah and we deeply appreciate the opportunity ESPN provides to showcase our university and community.”
And ESPN released their own statement acknowledging what they called McAfee’s “very real and valid” concerns about security and safety:
“The safety and security of our on-air team, crew and fans is paramount at College GameDay. We are committed to ensuring a safe environment, and given the very real threats that members of our team face, we take issues involving their safety seriously. We support Pat and recognize the very real and valid concerns he has around safety and security.”
Of course there were a lot of people who thought McAfee was overreacting, but yesterday afternoon an article from Front Office Sports revealed that the FBI had reportedly advised the GameDay host to wear a bulletproof vest in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, which would certainly explain why it was top of mind over the weekend. And this evening, McAfee opened up even more on the threats he’s received while sharing some truly vile messages that he’s received from viewers.
McAfee says that even though he tries to ignore his DMs, it’s always in the back of his mind that the threats he’s sent could be lurking around the corner:
“They still exist though right? I just don’t know the person is in Ohio then? That’s where I’m at now.”
And he explained it’s those threats that made him so sensitive to the university (and the New York Times) coming after him:
“So I do get a bit f–ked up when a couple days after The New York Times releases a “WE ARE ALLOWED TO AND SHOULD HATE THIS GUY” piece, a University puts a video out from their own page, indicating “we think he’s a corny creep here.” It’s a weird time. The things that get said about what my daughter and son and wife deserve are all rather wild as well.”
McAfee also opens up on his experience following the Kirk assassination, revealing that the FBI and local police departments were concerned about a copycat attack happening the following weekend when GameDay was at the University of Tennessee:
“Everybody in the “security” world was worried of a copycat incident potentially happening. GameDay was a few days out and we were the next huge gathering on a campus. The world, in front of the entire internet, just proved that we had gotten to a rather extreme place.
The FBI.. alongside, Disney security, Tennessee State Police, Knoxville PD, University Police, everybody in area, all had the very same goal to protect the shit out of the area. FBI snipers were sent down there, huge presence of police.. it was a surreal moment. The conversation about the death threats I had been receiving in life was definitely a huge topic.”
He also confirmed that it was suggested he wear a bulletproof vest, while questioning how we got to the point that a sports analyst would need that kind of protection:
“How’d we get here? I had to wrestle with that a bit. FBI’s sending snipers so me and the lads don’t get shot. That’s crazy. I don’t know if they teach how you’re supposed to handle these types of things in classes or something but, I was a bit rattled by the current reality of my World.”
McAfee pointed to his comments on Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif as a catalyst for a lot of the hate that he receives. If you recall, Khelif was at the center of controversy when the Olympics allowed the boxer to compete in Paris, despite questions over Khelif’s biological gender. At the time, McAfee gave a thoughtful and nuanced response to the controversy, pointing out the biological differences between men and women while also emphasizing empathy and calling it a “sad situation.”
But since then, McAfee says that he’s received numerous death threats, including some that reference the Kirk assassination:
“Every mistake, misstep or misquote relaunches A LOT of folks into a frenzy of me being the worst person on Earth who needs to be eliminated, and they gain more and more folks who want me unalived or as they actually say it “Kirked.””
He’s certainly in a tough position, and I know it’s easy to criticize his reaction to the video posted by Utah but most of us probably aren’t receiving death threats on a regular basis.
And sure, it’s easy to say, ‘Well it comes with the territory.’ But I think, to McAfee’s point: It shouldn’t. Noone should be forced to question whether death threats are just somebody spouting off in your DMs or whether it’s a real danger to your safety. Nobody should have to just “overlook” threats as part of being a public figure, because what happens when one of those threats IS real? As McAfee pointed out, we’ve seen it before…
Like McAfee, I’m just wondering how we got here.