It’s no secret that UFC president Dana White hates the media, but at Super Bowl LVIII radio row this week, his latest tirade against journalists was interrupted by the media itself.
In an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, White was asked about media coverage of UFC fighter Sean Strickland’s recent comments about women and LGBTQ people. After acknowledging Strickland went further than he needed to, White began to rail against mainstream media.
But just as he was getting to his point, White was interrupted. That interruption came not from McAfee or anyone in Las Vegas, but from an ESPN commercial break.
A cut to commercial interrupts Dana White just as he is about to give Pat McAfee a piece of his mind about the media pic.twitter.com/hfnTtSsC3k
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 7, 2024
Setting aside the irony of White saying he won’t appear on mainstream platforms while the ESPN logo sits atop his seat in the TV show, this does seem to be nothing more than a coincidence.
McAfee’s show cuts to a commercial at 1:53 p.m. ET every day, at which point the final hour airs solely on YouTube, TikTok, and ESPN+. Because the show does not have typical ad breaks every 15-20 minutes like most shows, ESPN instead places a prolonged cluster of ads together at the top of each hour.
A similar issue came up previously when a super-long Aaron Rodgers interview cut away mid-sentence. McAfee gave a small salute to the cable audience while Rodgers continued speaking.
The 1:53 ET hard out is a regular part of 'The Pat McAfee Show' and has happened mid-interview before (watch for Pat's salute) pic.twitter.com/7LLf5Ac9hC
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 7, 2024
In the White interview from radio row, you can hear McAfee try to cut in. He likely saw the situation unfolding and tried to segue naturally into a break, but White kept pushing.
In the YouTube version of the show, White finishes his point by saying politicians and media are the two most hated groups in America. Then, he tells McAfee he would never get into politics.
So while this is simply television 101, the fact that White was in the middle of a big diatribe against the media only makes it funnier. The notoriously prickly White finally sat for an interview on ESPN, only for an ad to interrupt his strongest points.
