There’s been an incredible amount of discussion about Pat McAfee calling Caitlin Clark a “white b****” on his show on ESPN and YouTube Monday. After massive blowback, McAfee issued an apology on social media. But he then used ‘white b****’ again on WWE Raw in reference to Braun Strowman, raising some questions about how sincere that apology was. McAfee cleared that up somewhat in a discussion of this at the start of his show Tuesday, where he said the word was one “that I certainly should not have used” and explained his intentions more fully:
“I utilized a descriptor that I certainly should not have used. …I utilized the words “white bitch” to describe Caitlin Clark as the superstar in Indiana. Now, when I was saying it, I legitimately meant it in a complimentary fashion.” – Pat McAfee. pic.twitter.com/dWCIy4Jend
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 4, 2024
“I utilized a descriptor that I certainly should not have used. …I utilized the words “white b****” to describe Caitlin Clark as the superstar in Indiana. Now, when I was saying it, I legitimately meant it in a complimentary fashion, like ‘This is the one.’ And as I said it, didn’t even think, honestly had no idea what was happening on the internet until two and a half hours later. Then I realized.”
Around the one-minute mark, McAfee talks about the reaction he got and how bad he felt about his remarks. And he offers an apology to the public for saying this wrong.
“And I started, like, reading through a lot of comments that were being said. And I felt like actually the worst human on earth for a good portion of my travels yesterday over to Hershey, and then into last night, even during Monday Night RAW, and then flying home, and then even into this morning from things that people were saying, going ‘D***. Those were not my intentions, but that’s how you took it. That’s on me, and I apologize.”
Then, around 1:30, he discusses how he stands by his lead-in point about hoping the WNBA, media, and ex-players would respect Clark more.
“The 15 minutes leading up to that, I was literally talking about how I hoped the WNBA and sports media and ex-WNBA players would show a little more respect to Caitlin Clark for what she has brought to the WNBA, and in the end, it was the takeaway that I was the most disrespectful person on earth to Caitlin Clark. So obviously, that’s a massive f***up on my end, I regret that.”
McAfee then goes on to talk about how he reached out to Clark and heard back that she wasn’t offended.
“I did reach out to Caitlin Clark through the Fever PR, I sent an apology, and then got a message back that she said it was all good, no blood, we move forward, and she appreciates us reaching out and apologizing. So that obviously makes me feel a little better.
And he concluded the discussion by referencing comments he’s made about other athletes. But he also said he needs to adapt for the WNBA, if he does wind up covering it more.
“But to the people that got pissed off yesterday, and offended, I understand. I learned a lot, I will say I learned a lot. Because we are a show that any time we talk about somebody we have massive respect for, we normally call them an absolute dawg, that is just standard operating procedure. At the ESPYs, I literally called Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce a**holes, in the front row, because they played football so good that somebody decided to put a wolf mask on and go bank rob.
“So whenever I’m talking, the way I complement is obviously not the same as everybody else, and I have to keep that in mind, maybe to a very new crowd about a very new sport that we’re diving into. Were diving into. With that being said, I think the universe has told me ‘Hey, maybe stay in your own dumba** lane.’ But I would like to say, I meant it as a compliment, those were my intentions.”
It was relatively clear from the context of the initial comment that McAfee was trying to compliment Clark (especially with this coming at the end of his aforementioned 15-minute discussion on her superstardom). And most initial writeups reflected that while still criticizing his language. However, yes, things can lose some nuance as they get further away from the source, and it’s possible that some of McAfee’s critics here did not see the full context of what he said. But “I was taken out of context” isn’t a full defense considering how much of the criticism did reflect the context, but still noted how inappropriate his language was.
To that end, it is notable that McAfee admits that. This isn’t entirely an “I’m sorry you were offended” apology; it does come with the recognition that this was the wrong term to use. And it’s significant that McAfee says he’ll approach that differently going forward if he does do more WNBA coverage.
Maybe the most notable thing here are McAfee’s comments on how much attention he paid to the criticism and how it made him feel, though. Any prominent sports talk personality is going to get a lot of criticism, especially when they make provocative statements. Some disregard much of it, to the point of perhaps not even having certain social media services, while others only really take note of it when it comes from industry colleagues. McAfee’s remarks here suggest he does definitely care what the internet in general is saying about him. And it will be interesting to see if he continues that approach going forward, and how he reacts to future criticism.
[The Pat McAfee Show on X/Twitter]
