Pat McAfee might be trying to minimize the amount of COVID-19 vaccine discussions that happen during his show, but live audiences sometimes have a way of doing whatever they want.
During Friday’s live show on the University of Utah campus, The Pat McAfee Show was briefly interrupted when an impromptu “Mr. Pfizer” chant took over during an interview with former Utah Utes and NFL quarterback Alex Smith.
As Smith played for the Kansas City Chiefs, McAfee brought up a scenario in which Taylor Swift showed up at one of his games. The mere mention of the popstar oddly elicited boos from the Utah crowd, who then broke out into the “Mr. Pfizer” chant as a reference to Swift’s would-be boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
TAKE IT EASY 😂😂😂#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/Z4JOjxXwVq
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 27, 2023
“Oh jeez, c’mon,” said McAfee upon realizing what the chant was.
“Don’t forget, this is John Stockon state,” added one of his co-hosts, alluding to the former Utah Jazz star having evolved into an anti-vax and conspiracy theory nutjob.
“I forgot about that,” added McAfee.
“Mr. Pfizer” was originally uttered by anti-vaxxer Aaron Rodgers during an appearance on McAfee’s show in reference to Kelce, who appears in commercials for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Kelce joked about the moniker and reminded Rodgers he gets paid by Johnson & Johnson heir Woody Johnson. Rodgers then (playfully?) challenged Kelce to a vaccine debate, which no one wants or needs, on a later McAfee show appearance.
McAfee has taken a lot of criticism for Rodgers’ appearances on the show and his lack of pushback on the medical misinformation and opinions that the Jets quarterback often offers. McAfee tends to play the critiques off, but so long as Rodgers keeps appearing to spout nonsense, he’ll keep hearing about it, whether it’s from critics or live crowds.
