Pat McAfee Accuses ESPN Exec of ‘Attempting to Sabotage’ His Show | Video
January 5, 2024 @ 6:09 PM
Pat McAfee, the former NFL punter who signed a lucrative deal last year for his YouTube show to air on ESPN, said on Friday’s episode that he thinks a top executive at the network is trying to “sabotage” him.
“We’re very thankful for the ESPN folks being very hospitable,” said McAfee before singling out Norby Williamson, a top network executive, for leaking inaccurate ratings information about how “The Pat McAfee” is faring on the network.
“Now there are some people actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN for more specifically, I believe Norby Williamson is the guy who is attempting to sabotage our program,” he said. “[He’]s just seemingly the only human that has information. And then somehow that information gets leaked, and it’s wrong… That’s a sabotage attempt.”
McAfee added that “this has been happening basically, this entire season from some people who didn’t necessarily love the old addition of the “Pat McAfee Show’ to the ESPN family.”
McAfee issued an public apology earlier this week to Jimmy Kimmel over speculation from guest Aaron Rodgers that the late night host’s name would be on the Epstein List.
That prompted New York Post’s Andrew Marchand to write on Thursday, “Upon hiring McAfee in the fall, ESPN knew he would be a headache.”
McAfee revealed his beef with Williamson dated back to 2018 when “that guy left me in his office for 45 minutes no-showed me… So this guy has had zero respect for me.”
During the Kimmel apology, McAfee mentioned he didn’t want to get sued again, as happened with Brett Favre last year. The retired quarterback wasn’t happy to hear McAfee joke that he was “stealing from poor people in Mississippi.” That case has since been settled.
McAfee said that despite “the enemy within our own camp” his show is “still growing somehow.”
“This Mcafee-ESPN partnership always felt shaky at best and this proves it,” wrote sports fan Anthony Russo on X. “Literally accusing a top executive of sabotage on air. No way Mcafee makes it through 2024.
One person who agreed with McAfee, however was former ESPN employee Jemele Hill, who left the network in 2018. She wrote, “I can relate,” on X.
ESPN has so far not commented on McAfee’s accusations against Williamson.
This Mcafee-ESPN partnership always felt shaky at best and this proves it.
Literally accusing a top executive of sabotage on air. No way Mcafee makes it through 2024 pic.twitter.com/ma9apbBYN9
— Anthony Russo (@Anthony_Russo97) January 5, 2024
