MCAFEE SHOULD BE MCAFIRED IF ESPN HAS ANY HOPE IN GOOD HUMAN TASTE
The ex-football player has described Caitlin Clark as a “white bitch” — why? — and wrongfully said Mark Davis, 69, fathered a child with a woman who is 26, which should lead to his permanent removal
In the reflective world of the Disney Company, Jimmy Pitaro is known as a friendly fellow. Nope, he is a doofus. He installed Pat McAfee into a daytime TV slot because his children at home liked him. Today, do the same kids like how he described Caitlin Clark as a “white bitch” and had to apologize for the second time in days?
Last week, McAfee said he was sorry for suggesting Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis, age 69, was the father of a baby with Hayden Hopkins, who is 26. This means at ESPN, where Pitaro likes to claim “quality journalism never has been more of a priority,” the former football player has defamed Clark with an ugly slur while wrongly claiming an aging NFL owner impregnated a Cirque Du Soleil performer.
I cannot watch McAfee without needing a therapist. This is not sports television in 2024, is it? He is surrounded by clowns, one with a mullet, who know nothing about big-time sports media and only can ooh and ahh when Aaron Rodgers shows up and lies about Jimmy Kimmel. As it is, Scott Van Pelt is a gambling numbnut. Now, McAfee violates the sanctity of journalism every time he airs. Is ESPN trying to attract every creep who can turn on a device?
It’s clear that Pitaro and another management failure, Burke Magnus, should send McAfee back to YouTube on a one-way death train. He cannot remain entrenched at ESPN when the network is proudly affiliated with prominent leagues. What’s he going to do next? Think Roger Goodell and Adam Silver aren’t wondering?
“I would like the media people that continue to say, ‘this rookie class, this rookie class, this rookie class’ — nah, just call it for what it is, there’s one white bitch for the Indiana team who is a superstar, and is it because she stayed in Iowa and put an entire state on her back and took a program from nothing to a multiple-year success story?” McAfee said.
Why? How about “one megastar” or something far beneath bitch? What is the point of his thrust? On X, he wrote later: “I shouldn’t have used “white bitch” as a descriptor of Caitlin Clark. No matter the context.. even if we’re talking about race being a reason for some of the stuff happening.. I have way too much respect for her and women to put that into the universe. My intentions when saying it were complimentary just like the entire segment but, a lot of folks are saying that it certainly wasn’t at all. That’s 100% on me and for that I apologize… I have sent an apology to Caitlin as well. Everything else I said… still alllllll facts. #Journalism #WNBAProgrum #SheIsTheOne”
He makes fun of journalism. And yet, the company chairman, Pitaro, applauds ESPN’s journalism. There is no journalism in Bristol, which means Pitaro should look in a mirror and wonder why he’s lying to America. If he’s serious about what the network means in a country hooked on sports and its ultimate meaning, he won’t keep McAfee around and will remove him today. Otherwise, Pitaro should leave his position. The network continues to lose massive amounts of cable-cutters. There’s no guarantee how many people will sign up for a standalone app in the fall of 2025. Continuing to trot out McAfee, while Van Pelt scoffs at problem bettors, is a jackass way of covering the industry as Disney throws more money at the NBA and covets the NFL as a godsend.
On his WWE “Raw” appearance, McAfee said of wrestler JD McDonagh, “A lot of people look at the size difference and think JD has no chance. Mark Davis is 70 years old and is expecting a child with a 26-year-old. Anything is possible in this modern world!” It didn’t take long for Davis to contact the ESPN bosses, as Hopkins wrote on X: “Reports of Mark Davis being the father of my child are wildly untrue. I was pictured sitting next to him at a game in 2022 and have endured false rumors of a romantic relationship since. I was just a guest sitting in the owner’s box with other friends. These continued media stories are negatively affecting what should be my happiest days. Joey and I are excited to welcome our baby in the fall.”
Joey would be Joey Gallo, who plays for the Washington Nationals in a long-winded baseball career. Minutes later, McAfee wrote: “Turns out Mark Davis is NOT the father. Congrats to Hayden & Joey.” Soon, he continued, “I apologize for perpetuating a lie. I understand how happy you guys should be at this moment. It would suck to have a 70-year-old billionaire looming over it. So I’d like to apologize to Hayden and let the world know, hey, we gotta make sure we get these things right. I spread lies in the middle of the Braun Strowman-JD McDonagh match last night. Mark Davis is not the father.”
What is the point of bringing up Tisha Thompson, T.J. Quinn, the Fainaru brothers, Don Van Natta Jr. and others who have tried to bring legitimate newsgathering to the network? They don’t matter. Every time McAfee screws up, they should quit and try another path for a living. Someday, a fine human being not involved in management for a huge paycheck will start a new sports network. Hopefully, he has nothing to do with ESPN or Fox and actually cares about the people at home. That might be in our next lifetime.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.