Pat McAfee takes aim at ESPN chief Norby Williamson for a second time as he rants about not having a

July 2024 · 2 minute read

Pat McAfee has once again blasted ESPN chief Norby Williamson after claiming he doesn’t have a ‘motherf****ng boss’.

McAfee, who hosts his own daily sports talk show on the network, took aim at Williamson once more while doubling down on comments he made last month about the executive attempting to ‘sabotage’ his program.

During an appearance on Showtime’s ‘All the Smoke’ podcast, the punter-turned-TV personality did not name Williamson specifically but viewed his previous remarks as ‘just a warning shot to I thought a person that was at the same [level].’

‘I report directly to [ESPN president] Jimmy [Pitaro] and [Disney CEO] Bob [Iger],’ McAfee said.

‘I saw [media reporting] “Pat calls out his boss.” I don’t got a motherf***ing boss. What are we …? We talking Jimmy Pitaro or Bob Iger?

ESPN's Pat McAfee once again blasted a network executive while saying he doesn't have a boss

ESPN’s Pat McAfee once again blasted a network executive while saying he doesn’t have a boss

McAfee's comments were aimed at Norby Williamson who he previously blasted in January

McAfee’s comments were aimed at Norby Williamson who he previously blasted in January 

The talk show host went on a rant during an appearance on Showtime's 'All the Smoke' podcast

The talk show host went on a rant during an appearance on Showtime’s ‘All the Smoke’ podcast

‘Like, is that who we’re talking about? Because those are people that could technically be described as my boss.’

McAfee proceeded to go through a long list of issues he had with a specific executive in the past, including being no-showed and having to wait 45 minutes for a meeting – which he previously claimed Williamson did to him. 

‘That guy was not a fan of me — or our operation — for a long time,’ said McAfee.

McAfee also described the experience of having his show take the place of the noon broadcast of SportsCenter as feeling like he was ‘at war’ after some people within ESPN did not roll out the welcome wagon when he initially arrived to the company.

He also expressed regret for how his comments impacted some of his allies at the network like Pitaro and ESPN’s president of content, Burke Magnus.

‘I genuinely did not expect it to get as big as it did because I didn’t think I said anything that was like that crazy,’ McAfee said. 

‘You know what I mean? … Like if I really wanted to saw a motherf***er down, I thought I could have done it in a much bigger way. And I did not. So I was actually pretty proud of myself.

‘I was like, Look at me, I’m an adult. And then it got loud.’

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