Dan Le Batard claims Pat McAfee runs ESPN: ‘They’ve clearly gotten all the woke out of the building’

ESPN belongs to Pat McAfee, and just in case there was any doubt, Dan Le Batard points to the way he just used the attention on the company’s layoffs as a promotional tool.

It’s been a bad week for ESPN. Layoffs never bring positive press, but this latest round of cuts has been handled exceptionally poor by ESPN, with Ryan Clark getting yanked off NFL Live to learn his fate being the face of those mishaps. But amid the negative press, there is Pat McAfee, who is reportedly negotiating an extension worth over $60 million with ESPN, and just announced the release date for his debut album one day after the dust began to settle on the layoffs.

Le Batard has long shared his adoration for McAfee, particularly since the former NFL punter acquired the type of freedom from ESPN he used to seek. And while Le Batard did not blame McAfee for any of the recent layoffs at ESPN, he does recognize the unique chain of command.

“Look who emerges from the ashes getting all the money as all of the past and personalities are knocked aside in a way that’s aggressive, top-end heavy on how you’re paying people at your network because they’re the people who pay for themselves and everyone else is disposable,” Le Batard noted. “As people complain and are outraged by, ‘This isn’t how you do it. You don’t fire longtime personalities.’ As people who don’t understand the business blame Pat McAfee, what a promotional item for the wrestling guy on College GameDay to emerge from all of this talk of ‘he stole all the money’ and say, ‘I’ve got an album dropping now, I’m the biggest star in sports. Stephen A’s over there making less than me with Bill Maher trying to build out his own brand, I’m going to build it on his platform, because I’m in charge.’”

McAfee is represented by TKO/Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro, who also handle his Hollywood ventures as the former NFL punter gets set to appear in Peter Berg’s upcoming World War II film. They undoubtedly had some say in the timing of the decision to announce the album release date. Mike Ryan noted McAfee has done a great job of building his brand as if he’s raging against the establishment, while still landing massive opportunities from the establishment. McAfee is now in control of the establishment.

“Disney and ESPN somehow keep getting called too woke,” Le Batard noted. “All the journalists are out the door now. All of the Black people, or almost all of the Black people who were actually going to say things that Black people agree with strongly, all of them are gone too. You’re gonna have trouble finding Hispanics, you’re gonna have a network run by McAfee and all of the white people now in charge there.”

Le Batard said ESPN can make these massive changes and blame them on their partnership with the NFL and the need to integrate NFL Network.

“That’s what Jimmy Pitaro is saying,” Le Batard continued. “And it’s understandable. It’s the way to do it. But they’ve clearly gotten all the woke out of the building.”

ESPN has moved on from some of the talent who has garnered criticism from right-wing media outlets. But when one target is removed, another will emerge. Because as much as some right-wing media outlets love to complain about ESPN, they still need ESPN to have something to complain about.