Over the weekend, ESPN got to see exactly how things would play out if it aired completely partisan right-wing commentary.
Unfortunately, host Pat McAfee was the unwilling victim of an experiment that came out of a viral online post.
‘What a f**king sellout.’
Saturday’s game between the University of Tennessee Volunteers and the Texas Longhorns got a ton of fanfare. Whether it was McAfee doling out $1 million to a college student, “Jackass” star Johnny Knoxville trying to hand a referee $20, or the sitting president attending the game, the stakes were high between the two powerhouse schools.
About an hour before kickoff though, a post attributing a quote to McAfee made the rounds, resulting in the former NFL punter getting death threats.
“Pat McAfee picks President Donald Trump to win the Texas vs. Tennessee matchup on College GameDay,” a post from X account @ShaneTuttleNCAA read.
“I only root for one team, and that team is TEAM USA,” the post claimed McAfee said. Attached was a photo of McAfee with President Trump as his prediction for the winner of the game.
Although the picture was altered and the X account labels itself as “satire,” plenty of viewers took the post seriously and went on a rampage against the ESPN host.
“What a f**king sellout,” one reader said.
“Nobody likes ESPN commentators sharing political opinions,” another wrote.
On Sunday, McAfee revealed screenshots of more alleged egregious responses:
“Yea he really does need to get kirked,” one user apparently wrote in response, likely referring to the assassination of political commentator Charlie Kirk.
That account has seemingly been deleted.
Another X user apparently called McAfee a “worthless piece of s**t,” prompting the host to wonder if enough people had seen that the original fabricated post had been hit with a community note from X.
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“All of these folks that were very excited to believe this DEFINITELY got a follow up about this being fake right?” McAfee asked openly.
“If it gets Community Noted much later on, is X forcing it back into folks [sic] feeds?” he continued. “I’m sure they all know it’s not real. The community note probably cleared it all up for the 1,000,000+ folks that saw this,” McAfee added.
X does notify users of a community note being added to a post if a user interacts with it by commenting, liking, or sharing, but not if a user simply sees it.
McAfee also called out the user who posted the image by name, while also singling out OutKick writer Jon Root for an article written the week prior.
McAfee said Root was “completely lying” about what he said, thereby “dropping” McAfee “into something with potential real life repercussions.”
The article in question cited McAfee’s comments during a military flyover, where he said, “We certainly appreciate the hell out of the American military. And if you’re not the United States of America and you hear that sound, your ass better run.”
According to OutKick, a previous version of the story “indicated Pat McAfee may have been referring to illegal immigration but in fact he seems to be referring to America’s military against its enemies.”
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To his credit, Root chimed in on McAfee’s post and condemned any threats made against the former NFL player and apologized.
“I apologize for taking that statement last week about the National Guard as a illegal immigration joke. I corrected it in the thread soon after posting, but probably should have just deleted it,” Root wrote.
As for McAfee, he attempted to make light of the disturbing comments made about him. “That’s fun,” he wrote. “That’s the good stuff.”
McAfee concluded, “And if I do get ‘kirked,’ please know that I love my kin and I love ball. Now … Let’s have a phenomenal NFL Sunday.”
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