'Two political parties canceled me last week and we are still alive'
Pat McAfee found himself in some hot water a couple of weeks ago after maybe his most famous guest made quite the insinuation on his own show.
Aaron Rodgers said on McAfee's ESPN program that Jimmy Kimmel should be "really hoping [the Jeffrey Epstein client list] doesn’t come out," hinting that Kimmel's name would be on it.
McAfee did himself no favors when he said, on the network, that ESPN executive senior vice president of studio and event production Norby Williamson is actively "sabotaging" him and his show, calling him a "rat" in the process.
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Espn announcer Pat McAfee during the Georgia Bulldogs game versus the TCU Horned Frogs in the College Football Playoff National Championship game on January 9, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Sides, naturally, were taken in the Rodgers-Kimmel dilemma, which led to McAfee claiming that he was "canceled by both parties" in the aftermath of the war of words.
While discussing Martin Luther King Jr. Day, McAfee made note of this year's election and said that Dr. King's "dream" is "coming to fruition."
"So let’s realize that as we look around and that we’re maybe more close than we’ve ever been," McAfee said.
"And there’s an election about to take place [this] year where we need to remember that we are more close than we have ever been. And people could potentially try to drive us apart from the outside looking in. Now, as somebody who was canceled by both parties last week, both of them canceled me. Two political parties canceled me last week and we are still alive. Let’s remember we don’t need all the outside noise. All we need is a little bit of love. Which is what we have for all the people who have good intentions every single day when they wake up, just like us."
Jimmy Kimmel, left, is shown in a Sept. 14, 2019, file photo, in Los Angeles. New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, right, is shown in Aug. 12, 2023, file photo, in Charlotte, N.C. Rodgers, on Tuesday, (Invision for the Television Academy/AP)
McAfee, a former Indianapolis Colts punter, equated the comments Rodgers made as an attempt to "talk s---" and apologized for "being a part of" the drama that came about afterward.
"We obviously don’t like the fact that we’re associated with anything negative ever. We like our show to be an uplifting one. A happy one. A fun one. But it’s because we talk s--- and try to make light of everything, some things obviously people get very p---ed off about, especially when they’re that serious of allegations," he said.
Pat McAfee points towards fans while walking on the 18th fairway during Round One of the 2022 American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on July 8, 2022 in Stateline, Nevada. (Isaiah Vazquez/Clarkson Creative/Getty Images)
ESPN apologized for Rodgers' "dumb and factually inaccurate joke" about Kimmel.
McAfee, who also began co-hosting "College GameDay" this past September, signed an $85 million deal with ESPN
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