Pat McAfee defended himself and slammed critics for assuming the latest ESPN layoffs were caused by his massive salary.
On Tuesday’s episode of “The Pat McAfee Show,” guest and former NFL player J.J. Watt cracked a joke about the layoffs happening because McAfee’s salary – saying “did they keep anybody, or is everybody fired to pay you?’” This came the same day the company announced another round of layoffs that cut analysts like Karl Ravech, Cam Newton and Ryan Clark. McAfee laughed off the comment before admitting “that’s not funny” and defending himself.
“On that note, we hate anytime this happens,” McAfee said. “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 for the future, and I hate this.”
You can watch the moment yourself in the video below.
He added: “The first time we licensed the show through ESPN, one of these happened. We got blamed for it all. It’s like, blame us. OK, OK, thank you. I feel like you don’t fully understand budgets and where things are coming from, but I do appreciate that. This time, we’re getting blamed, as well, which I guess I can understand. But, I mean, there’s billions and billions of dollars in these companies, and 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.”
McAfee is not the only ESPN personality drawing the ire of fans watching the layoffs happen. Stephen A. Smith was also called out for having such a large salary as so many others lose their job. Smith also discussed the layoffs on Tuesday and explained how he advocated for many to stay including Clark in particular.
“Was I asked what I thought what my feelings were? Yes, I was,” Smith said. “Of course I said we have to keep them. But I don’t get to make those decisions. And I don’t get to ignore the fiscal and financial circumstances and ultimate ramifications that come with the job.”
He finished: “I am not happy about this decision one bit. The bosses know I am not happy about this decision.”
It was announced Tuesday that ESPN was going through another round of layoffs in the wake of their acquisition of the NFL Network. The company went through a previous wave of cuts back in April.
