Pat McAfee faces severe criticism after posting a highly insensitive tweet related to Larry Nassar.
How Pat McAfee will fit in at ESPN has raised a lot of doubts. It remains to be seen if he will continue to have the same flexibility as a self-employed podcaster. McAfee, however, has retaliated against those who have criticized his choice to join ESPN. In particular, given that he just transferred the show from multiple platforms, he claimed to have gained trust.
I think Nassar was in on the design team actually
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) July 30, 2023
ESPN awarded McAfee a large contract as a statement of their confidence in him. We already know what the network let Stephen A. Smith get away with, so it will be interesting to see if the same guidelines hold true for McAfee. Because McAfee’s opinion has already received negative attention.
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McAfee tweeted something offensive and repugnant on Sunday, and it was still online as of the time this article was being written. A tweet about Michigan State’s new uniforms received a response from McAfee. He was replying to a tweet from Evan Fox, who, according to his Twitter bio, handles “all things video for The Pat McAfee Show.”
The shocking response from McAfee is shown above. The tweet has been online since 12:46 p.m. ET, however, we have attached a screenshot just in case.
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) July 30, 2023
“I think [Larry] Nassar was in on the design team actually,” McAfee wrote.
Naturally, McAfee is alluding to the Larry Nassar incident, which resulted in the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State doctor receiving a 140–360 year prison sentence for a number of sexual assault and child pornography-related offenses. Recently, Nassar made headlines when, while watching Wimbledon on TV with another convict, who was outraged by a sexual remark Nassar made about girls, stabbed him.
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We won’t speculate on McAfee’s choice to mention Nassar in this instance, but it is a shameful use of his stature to compare Michigan State’s jerseys to something the disgraced former doctor, who pervasively assaulted young women, must have thought up.
McAfee faced a lot of criticism for using a serial predator as the basis for an inappropriate “joke.”
Jesus Christ pic.twitter.com/gVn278hPYX
— B1G_Ryan (@B1G_Ryan) July 30, 2023
When someone suggested he should delete his tweet, McAfee, who obviously did not grasp the gravity of the situation, responded with a GIF of Stephen A. Smith asking, “For What?”
In case it wasn’t awful enough, he promptly shared the tweet a few hours later.
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We’ll have to wait and see if McAfee is truly sorry for his remarks and if he ends up having to apologize. His response suggests that he is unaware of the gravity of his comments and that mentioning Nassar’s name, even in mockery, is just an inappropriate use of his stage to do that.
