ESPN host Pat McAfee has proven not up to the task of handling politically motivated media controversy.
On Thursday, McAfee surprised a lot of people when he brought NFL star Aaron Rodgers on the show to discuss Bill Belichick's departure from New England — the All-World head coach had been with the team for 24 years and won six Super Bowls.
Rodgers' appearance came ONE DAY after McAfee essentially benched the New York Jets quarterback, announcing that Rodgers would no longer appear on the show for the remainder of the NFL season.
McAfee would later explain that he was “absolutely crushed” by the ad and tried to downplay it as nothing to see moment Rodgers sent liberals into a frenzy after he jokingly hinted that late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel might be on Jeffrey Epstein's associate list, even though his biggest sin might have been to keep screwing up the COVID-19 hit not only as ineffective but potentially worse.
LADIES AND GENTLEMAN..
Join us NOW @AaronRodgers12 #PMSLlive pic.twitter.com/KjkqSUWON6
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 11, 2024
McAfee said Tuesday that the player would not appear again this season on his show, which airs on the left-leaning sports network: “Aaron Rodgers Season 4 is over. There's going to be a lot of people happy about that, myself included , to be honest.”
“The way it ended, it was very strong and I'm glad it won't be my mentions in the future,” he said, before adding: “We live in a country that has freedom of speech. But you also have to facing the consequences of your free speech So what I'm saying is that over the last week we've given a lot of people who have been waiting for us to fail a lot of ammunition in things to attack us.
Disappointed by McAfee's approach!
Disney/ESPN won.
Aaron Rodgers was suspended from “The Pat McAfee Show” after his comments about Jimmy Kimmel.
McAfee said he was “happy” that Rodgers would not be returning to the show because of the drama it caused.
— Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) January 10, 2024
After ending Thursday's segment with Rodgers, McAfee addressed the belief many had that he had banned the player by offering a mealy-mouthed excuse that simply acknowledged that Rodgers was now in his “off season,” given that the regular season of the NFL had concluded: the playoffs begin this weekend.
“So yesterday, I'm absolutely getting overwhelmed,” McAfee said, “I'm like, 'How do I explain to all these humans that Aaron Rodgers is having an off-season, too, which he likes to do?' And that's how it's always been with Aaron Rodgers Tuesdays. When his football ends, usually he has, now last year was a little different because of the whole situation that was going on. That was wild. They were absolutely killing us. They said, 'You turned your back on Aaron Rodgers!'
“You know how much I've been through with Aaron Rodgers just in our short relationship? Yeah, I didn't want to be in the middle of any of that,” he continued. “We all had friends who put us in situations where we were like, 'Did we have to do this?' I've been that guy.”
This is the off season for @AaronRodgers12 #PMSLlive pic.twitter.com/4s5276e7rX
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 11, 2024
If his account is true, then McAfee was clearly trying to appease his liberal listeners (and bosses?) by suggesting on Tuesday that he had banned Rodgers.
Here's a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen in X:
Pat McAfee announced yesterday that Aaron Rodgers would no longer be on his show and then Jimmy Kimmel nerds are celebrating all day and then Pat McAfee has Aaron Rodgers back on his show today he's one of the best trolls I've ever seen last few years
— NotKennyRogers (@NotKennyRogers) January 11, 2024
Jimmy Kimmel watching Aaron Rodgers return to Pat McAfee's show after his one-day suspension pic.twitter.com/LngwNdhexT
— Shooter McGavin (@ShooterMcGavin_) January 11, 2024
pat mcafee ending “Aaron Rodgers Tuesday” then starting “Aaron Rodgers Thursday” pic.twitter.com/aFpSC2TE8G
— Emerson Lotzia, Jr. (@EmersonLotzia) January 11, 2024
AJ Hawk as Pat McAfee and Aaron Rodgers burn ESPN pic.twitter.com/e9aswrAyVw
— The turtleneck by Carl Thomas (real name KJ) (@therealkj4) January 9, 2024
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