- McAfee called himself an “a**hole” during his guest spot on First Take
- He also described his joy in telling Georgia football fans to 'go to hell'
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ESPN's Pat McAfee may have made the network a little uncomfortable during Tuesday's guest appearance on First Take, when he mentioned several anchors fired by the World Wide Leader while also dropping a few expletives.
“The whole story all year was that because my show came to ESPN, we obviously fired Steve Young, we fired all the people who were here and were great people at ESPN,” McAfee told co-hosts Stephen A. Smith, Molly Qerim and Shannon Sharpe.
McAfee, a former NFL gambler and YouTube host, signed with ESPN in May for five years and $85 million — months before the network fired several high-profile anchors as part of 7,000 job cuts by Disney.
And as McAfee reminded the First Take crew on Tuesday, it was his show that was widely blamed by the public for the layoffs.
“It was my show's fault,” McAfee continued sarcastically. “On Gameday, (former NFL defensive end) David Pollack was let go. David Pollack, who I'm a huge fan of – one of the greatest (Georgia) Bulldogs of all time, guy who was really good to me. I took his place.'
McAfee may have made ESPN a little uncomfortable during his guest appearance on First Take
McAfee spoke with co-hosts (from left) Stephen A. Smith, Molly Qerim and Shannon Sharpe
Pollack's firing led to significant criticism of McAfee, who became a target for Georgia fans, especially after he correctly predicted the Bulldogs would lose the SEC championship to Alabama on Saturday.
“And the Georgia fans,” McAfee said, “they didn't like me.”
Naturally, McAfee enjoyed his Saturday performance on ESPN's College Game Day, when he was booed by Bulldogs fans after picking the Crimson Tide to win.
“So Georgia fans all year round, not necessarily the biggest McAfee fans,” he continued in the third person. “That said, I was very, very nice to them, I was very cordial to them, but in the biggest moment, in front of them all, it was a nice little reminder, 'Hey, you can go to hell.' at.'''
Smith, who has his own share of critics, piggybacked on McAfee's statement.
“It's very cathartic to tell people to go to hell,” Smith said.
At that point, Qerim tried to steer the conversation in a more polite direction.
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young (pictured) was among those fired at ESPN
Georgia Bulldogs legend David Pollack (pictured) was also among ESPN's 2023 layoffs
“Okay guys,” she said. “Okay, this is a Disney morning show.”
And this only came after McAfee described himself as an 'asshole' upon his introduction.
Qerim initially noticed that the tank-top McAfee was holding the microphone instead of wearing one, which he explained as a result of his clothing decisions.
“The thing is, if you wear tank tops like a hole, it's hard to get the lavalier microphones on, especially if you're wearing two chains,” he said. “So it's been quite a challenge for the people here (ESPN's Seaport Studio in New York). It was an honor to be in the same building as you.”