After setting off an online firestorm around Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif on Thursday, Pat McAfee appeared to follow up with additional comments about that backlash on Friday’s edition of The Pat McAfee Show.
While McAfee did not reference Khelif by name, he used several moments during the final (YouTube and ESPN+ exclusive) hour of his show to reaffirm why he spoke out about Khelif’s gender and her match against Italian Angela Carini while stating that he did so with “good intentions” and to “unify everybody.”
“We are striving to unify everybody, legitimately, because that’s what we feel like sports are,” McAfee said. “But also every once in a while, we gotta say, oh whoa whoa whoa.”
“We are striving to unify everybody, legitimately, because that’s what we feel like sports are. But also every once in a while, we gotta say, oh whoa whoa whoa.”
Pat McAfee appeared to follow up on his comments about the Imane Khelif controversy today near the end of his show: pic.twitter.com/nmPfhukrSq
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 2, 2024
A few moments later, McAfee closed out the show by calling out “mean” people online and responding to accusations that he is “mean” at times as well.
“I want to let people know, all of ours is with good intentions and trying to make the world be on the same page,” McAfee said. “I promise you that is the case. And sometimes I guess it doesn’t come off that way, or people don’t hear it that way.”
McAfee’s comments about Khelif and Carini came after author J.K. Rowling publicized Carini quitting the match and some found reports of a test by the International Boxing Association that found heightened levels of testosterone. However, the legitimacy of that test came into question shortly after given that the IOC cut ties with the IBA five years ago due to the IBA’s connections to Russian oligarchs.
Both Rowling and McAfee referenced Khelif as a transgender woman, which she is not. She was assigned female at birth and has identified as a woman her whole life. The IOC allowed her to compete as a woman because her Algerian passport lists her as such. It is not legal in Algeria to be in a same-sex relationship at all, let alone to be transgender.
Because he did not engage directly with the facts around Khelif during his monologue on Thursday or his response on Friday, it is still unclear where McAfee truly stands on the admittedly complicated issue of sex and gender in sports.
[The Pat McAfee Show on YouTube]
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.