ESPN television host Pat McAfee took in the last game of the regular season for his former team, the Indianapolis Colts.
McAfee was seen in a luxury box taking in the game wearing a blue vest stamped with the logo of the Colts.
Video even captured McAfee signing autographs for a fan that tossed down a jersey that had the former punter’s name and number on it.
It’s been a tumultuous week for McAfee – centered around comments made on his show by guest Aaron Rodgers.
That led to even further backlash on social media from people who believe that he should not have even been hired by ESPN – considering the large personnel cost in the form of staff cuts that happened around the same time as his arrival.
Pat McAfee was seen signing autographs for fans at the Indianapolis Colts game on Saturday
It was a night off after a week of heightened media attention for all the wrong reasons
Early in the week, Rodgers appeared to suggest that comedian Jimmy Kimmel – who hosts a late night show on ABC, whose parent company is the same as ESPN’s – would be named on the list of associates of convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
‘There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, who are hoping that list doesn’t come out,’ the quarterback said on air.
Kimmel, whose name did not appear on said list when it was released earlier in the week, did not enjoy being the punchline of a joke about Epstein.
He took to X to air his rage. ‘Dear A***hole: for the record, I’ve not met, flown with, visited, or had any contact whatsoever with Epstein, nor will you find my name on any ‘list’ other than the clearly-phony nonsense that soft-brained wackos like yourself can’t seem to distinguish from reality,’ the comedian fumed.
‘Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court.’
ESPN did not make any public comments about Rodgers’ words and McAfee did not immediately say anything live on air to the quarterback.
The following day, McAfee addressed the elephant in the room on the airing of his show.
‘There were some things that were, probably, I mean we’ll have to hear from Aaron on that, meant to be a s*** talk joke that can become a very serious allegation that leads to a massive overnight story,’ McAfee said.
The show caused controversy earlier this week following comments by Aaron Rodgers (center)
Rodgers suggested comedian Jimmy Kimmel may be on the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s associates
The late-night TV host furiously took to X and said Rodgers’ claims ‘put my family in danger’
‘But I can see exactly why Jimmy Kimmel felt the way he felt, especially with his position but I think Aaron was just trying to talk s***,’ McAfee added.
By the end of the week, an ESPN spokesperson finally made a public statement about the words of the guest, calling Rodgers’ suggested claims were ‘a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Kimmel.
‘It should never have happened. We all realized that in the moment.’
Feeling the heat from the week’s worth of attention and controversy, McAfee felt the need to fire back – specifically targeting longtime executive Norby Williamson and calling him a ‘rat’.
On Friday’s show, McAfee said: ‘We understand that more people are watching this show than ever before. 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 attempting to sabotage our program.’
The former punter admitted he lacked concrete proof to back up his accusation.
‘I’m not 100 per cent sure – that’s just seemingly the only human that has information, and then somehow that information gets leaked and it’s wrong and then it sets a narrative of what our show is,’ he continued.
During Wednesday’s episode, Pat McAfee claimed that Rodgers was just ‘s***-talking’
After a hectic week, McAfee launched a furious on-air attack against some of his ESPN bosses
McAfee singled out experienced exec Norby Williamson, accusing him of leaking information
‘Are we just going to combat that from a rat every single time? I don’t know. But somebody tried to get ahead of our actual ratings release with wrong numbers 12 hours beforehand.
‘That’s a sabotage attempt, and it’s been happening basically this entire season from some people who didn’t necessarily love the old addition of the Pat McAfee Show to the ESPN family.’
ESPN tried bridging the gap between their employee’s very public anger and an executive that has served the company for decades.
‘No one is more committed to and invested in ESPN’s success than Norby Williamson,’ a spokesman explained on Saturday morning.
That statement continued, saying, ‘We are thrilled with the multi-platform success that we have seen from Pat McAfee Show across ESPN.
‘We will handle this matter internally and have no further comment.’
