Guess what, sports-talk bros, the rules apply to you too
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I’m not sure but I think Pat mcAfee is saying, “I screwed up how?”
Pat McAfee, the loud, annoying, inarticulate and hugely popular sports talk show host on ESPN and YouTube, publicly apologized Wednesday for spreading a false internet rumor about the sex life of an 18-year-old female student at Ole Miss by saying: “I’m very thankful that (the family) gave me the opportunity to tell them how sorry I was.”
Translation: “I’m very thankful that the family didn’t sue me for all I’m worth.”
In his first mention of the hoax in February, he didn’t say the woman’s name. For purposes of libel, though, that doesn’t matter because the name was already widely known. He didn’t declare the story true, only that it was spreading all over social media. Again, doesn’t matter because if you repeat a libel, you’re responsible for it – and McAfee exponentially increased awareness of it.
Legalities aside, why would anyone think it’s OK to do this? The woman, who talked publicly about how the rumor and McAfee’s publicity destroyed her life, had to switch to online classes, moved into emergency housing, and got harassing and threatening phone messages. “You’re ruining my life by talking about it on your show for nothing but attention, but here I am staying up until 5 in the morning, every night, throwing up, not eating because I’m so anxious about what’s going to happen for the rest of my life,” she told The Athletic in April.
Several other sports show hosts with less reach than McAfee – two Barstool commentators on social media and a St. Louis radio host – thought it was fine to have some fun mocking the woman. They apologized, too, and far sooner than the five months it took McAfee. (I presume negotiation to avoid a lawsuit against ESPN was the reason.)
This internet gossip wasn’t even about sports, but some sports commentators will say anything for attention, without thinking it through. And for a few, disrespecting women is part of the act. Barstool employs some like that. McAfee has also had to apologize for comments about Caitlin Clark.
The potential benefits of ex-athletes like McAfee getting a second career in media are the name recognition and the inside knowledge. But it all goes wrong if they decide, like McAfee, that a lightning-rod personality is all that’s required of them. That includes not bothering to learn the basics of the business. And if that personality morphs into the tiresome shtick of hyper bro culture – by an ex-athlete or anyone in sports talk – then it can get really ugly.