Pat McAfee says college students’ jokes at Utah GameDay prompted safety concerns, drawing responses from school and ESPN
Pat McAfee said a group of University of Utah students posted joking videos about him on the school’s Instagram and TikTok ahead of College GameDay last week, and he has described feeling unsafe after the episode; the university removed the clip and issued an apology while ESPN issued a statement backing McAfee. His comments and the institutional responses followed a series of on-air remarks by the ESPN personality about the incident.
McAfee joined ESPN under a five-year, $85m deal in 2023 and has become a frequent presence on College GameDay, a role the article says helped push ratings to new heights. Reports circulated that ESPN executives were negotiating a potential new contract for McAfee worth between $60m and $65m a year, and one unnamed executive reportedly described him as a "generational" media talent. The host’s profile at the network has expanded beyond GameDay, with involvement on Monday Night Football and discussion of his Super Bowl alternate-cast, according to the piece.
The video posted to the university’s Instagram and TikTok accounts featured a handful of students making light of McAfee ripping off his shirt on set and delivering what they called "corny" lines; one student in the clip said "we love you bro" while asking him to "keep the shirt on." The article notes those elements of the video and characterises the students’ remarks as mild teasing rather than threatening behaviour.
McAfee first addressed the post ahead of the Utes’ clash with the Houston Cougars, saying: "The university’s Instagram account posted something talking a little trash about me last night, which I certainly love." On his eponymous show a few days later he said he had "never felt more uncomfortable" and, the article reports, alluded to the assassination of Charlie Kirk as a reason for his unease: "I thought to myself: Has anything really scary happened at, like, a college gathering in the state of Utah recently? Do you think we should be amplifying reasons for why people hate my guts as a university? I don’t know."
In response to the backlash McAfee described, the university removed the video and issued an apology, and ESPN released a statement of support for McAfee and "the very real and valid concerns he has around safety and security." Those actions followed McAfee’s public remarks about feeling uncomfortable on the Utah campus.
The article also records other high-profile moments in McAfee’s recent media run: it says Donald Trump made his debut appearance on The Pat McAfee Show late last year, and that McAfee participated in the inaugural Patriot Games over the summer. It additionally reports that, amid discussions about a new contract, McAfee has been assigned to Monday Night Football and that there is "talk of potentially using his Super Bowl alt-cast for even higher honors on screen."
ESPN executive vice-president Mike Foss is quoted as saying, "Pat can do whatever he wants," a remark the piece uses to illustrate McAfee’s current standing at the network and the reported scope of his assignments and contractual talks.