Pat McAfee responded Tuesday after he was widely blamed for the latest wave of layoffs at ESPN.
Many on social media blamed McAfee and his hefty salary, implying that ESPN would not have had to part ways with several high-profile figures if not for that. He acknowledged that narrative, but said he hates seeing good people lose their jobs and that he had nothing to do with it.
“That is the narrative and I am certainly taking it on the shins,” McAfee said on his show Tuesday. “The boys and I are very proud of the work that we have done. We hate any time this happens. Obviously, this is terrible. We don’t like that. But we are very honored that we are still partnering with ESPN and Disney for the good of sport and for the future.
“The first time we licensed the show through ESPN, one of these happened, we got blamed for it all. I feel like you don’t fully understand budgets and where things are coming from. This time we’re getting blamed as well, which I guess I can understand, but there’s billions and billions of dollars in these companies. Hard decisions have to get made, and we don’t like any of them, and we hope we’re an asset to the company going forward.”
Last month, McAfee reportedly agreed to a new contract with ESPN that pays him roughly $60 million per year. In all likelihood, those let go on Tuesday do not make that much combined, so McAfee’s salary was an easy target for critics of the layoffs.
There is not much McAfee can do to dispel the notion. All he can really do is keep doing his show, since it’s not as if he had any hand in the network’s decision-making process.
