An ancillary effect of ESPN landing The Pat McAfee Show is that they’re also getting an uncensored Aaron Rodgers.
It wasn’t too long ago that an uncensored, unfiltered Aaron Rodgers caused sports fans across the country to shutter every time he mentioned COVID-19. Now, Rodgers will be able to share his uncensored, unfiltered opinions every Tuesday on Disney’s ESPN.
The Pat McAfee Show era on ESPN began Thursday afternoon, with Rodgers joining the program as his first guest.
Aaron Rodgers and Pat McAfee test ESPN’s censorship rules pic.twitter.com/xAeluFnaPb
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 7, 2023
“They’re going to try to censor some of the show, it looks like, right?” Rodgers asked, seemingly aware of all the headlines surrounding McAfee’s inability to drop f-bombs on the show now that its first two hours will air on ESPN daily.
McAfee might not hold the same freedom as Tyson Fury to drop f-bombs on ESPN, but he is allowed to say most of the other curse words in his vocabulary, proving it by saying “shit” a few times with Rodgers during the show’s first hour.
“I feel like we need to do some episodes where we do what South Park did that one time and try to break the record for how many times they can curse,” Rodgers suggested.
In 2001, a 30-minute episode of South Park titled “It Hits the Fan” used the word “shit” 162 times. It would seem unlikely that McAfee and Rodgers will ever broach 162 s-bombs in 30 minutes. ESPN might be okay with McAfee saying “shit” on his show, but are they also comfortable airing the wide range of topics Rodgers tends to broach throughout the NFL season?
Thursday was the first time the show aired on ESPN since their partnership was announced in May, but McAfee noted it certainly wasn’t the first time his show was seen on ESPN.
“Dr. Joe Rogan – we were on ESPN a lot during those times,” McAfee told Rodgers, referencing the quarterback using the podcast platform to express his controversial opinions about the global pandemic. “Everybody was like, ‘Hey, what’s it going to be like going to ESPN?’ We were there for a moment pretty much every Wednesday, Thursday, and we were getting cooked.”
During his Thursday appearance, McAfee announced Rodgers would be back on his show every Tuesday for the fourth consecutive NFL season. Not only is ESPN going to air Aaron Rodgers’ thoughtful insight on all things football every Tuesday, but they also might end up having to air his thoughts on COVID, media biases, ESPN’s biases, the government, the presidential election, UFOs, Ayn Rand, and pretty much anything else that pops into that haughty mind of his. Unless Rodgers is willing to censor himself?
“I will not be censoring myself, so if you gotta go over and watch it at different places, I will be the same old, same old,” Rodgers said, vowing to remain uncensored and unfiltered despite being on ESPN.
With McAfee’s ESPN partnership, the first two hours of the show air on ESPN, ESPN+, and ESPN’s YouTube channel, while the third hour airs exclusively on ESPN+ and ESPN’s YouTube channel.
