ESPN star Pat McAfee went off against one of his bosses during Friday’s episode of “The Pat McAfee Show,” accusing him of trying to sabotage his career.
In a clip shared widely online from his Friday afternoon show, McAfee addressed his issues with ESPN by going directly to who he thinks is the source: Executive Editor and Head of Event and Studio Production Norby Williamson. You may not have heard of Williamson, but he’s one of the top three people in charge at the network and a close personal friend of ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro, according to the New York Post.
But despite Williamson’s long-time stature within the company — which only signed McAfee’s $85 million, five-year deal in May 2023 — there’s clearly some tension.
“We’re very appreciative, and we understand that more people are watching this show than ever before,” McAfee said during the final hour of his show. “We’re very thankful for the ESPN folks for being very hospitable. Now, there are some people actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN — more specifically, I believe Norby Williamson is the guy who is attempting to sabotage our program.”
McAfee believes Williamson leaked fake viewership numbers to the NY Post a day before they were publicly available as a means of undermining McAfee’s career with the network.
Pat McAfee really called his Boss out yesterday like he was in a locker room press conference after a game… dude is fed up 🤣🤣🤣pic.twitter.com/I09BSQPWTR
— 🅰️RAY (@ARayfor3) January 6, 2024
“Now, I’m not 100 percent sure. That is just seemingly the only human that has information, and then that information gets leaked, and it’s wrong, and it sets a narrative of what our show is,” he continued. “And then are we just gonna combat that from a rat every single time? Somebody tried to get ahead of our actual ratings release with wrong numbers 12 hours beforehand. That’s a sabotage attempt. It’s been happening this entire season from some people who didn’t necessarily love the old addition of ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ to the ESPN family. There’s a lot of those.”
Part of McAfee’s problem with Williamson also stemmed from an alleged ghosting incident, in which Williamson no-showed to a meeting with McAfee in 2018. “So that guy has had no respect for me, and in return same thing to him, for a long time,” he noted. (RELATED: Two Former ESPN Employees Sue Over Vaccine Mandates)
McAfee’s statements literally erupted online, with everyone within sports media losing their mind over his statements. He shared the show’s statistics on his social Friday (which were pretty amazing, all things considered), and then went silent as everyone spewed their comments.
Shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday, McAfee shared a scene from the Al Pacino classic, “Scarface,” in which the leader character lectures a room of unsuspecting diners about how he always tells the truth, “even when he lie(s).”
The response from users was mixed. Most people seemed to side with McAfee, while the rest seemed to say, “I told you so,” having allegedly warned him about the apparent bureaucracy and BS of ESPN.
McAfee did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment on the response following his statements.