Pat McAfee has never been one to shy away from responding to criticism.
And while doing so in a social media post on Tuesday, the former All-Pro punter alluded to issues he’s run into during his time at ESPN.
Taking to his Instagram stories, McAfee shared a collage of criticism he received on a post from the College GameDay account displaying his enthusiastic introduction during the show in Eugene, Oregon, on Oct. 11. The collage included comments such as “Pat needs to go. Not a fan at all!” and “Wish he wasn’t on the show,” along with the profile pictures of the users who left them.
It’s 6 AM in Eugene, Oregon and Pat McAfee has had his coffee this morning. pic.twitter.com/OKhvLxvnk3
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 11, 2025
In an ensuing video post, the West Virginia product noted that the comments were predominantly left by “old white people.” And according to Pat McAfee, such criticism from such people has been a common theme for him dating back to his childhood.
“I just got done a little morning workout. It’s nice to read those comments,” he said in the video. “I’d like to let all you old f*cks know, I hate you too. Never got along with that class of people. Teachers, principals, you name it. Since I [was] a kid, always hated me. It’s kind of a part of life now.”
McAfee’s grievances, however, weren’t just limited to the “old white people” in the comments section, but also some of the ones he currently works alongside at ESPN.
“If you think about old white people and old ESPN people, those are really the people that hate me the most at this stage of life,” he said. “Now granted, there’s some other groups that certainly have threatened my life on a pretty regular basis, I’d say they hate me too. But throughout the entirety, old whites and the old ESPN people over the last like three years have really hated me. That’s who all the producers are of GameDay too. So now — it’s been a fun run. College football is great. OK, cheers. Have a great day.”
While this isn’t the first time that Pat McAfee has called out his ESPN colleagues (or critics, for that matter), it’s unclear what issues he was referencing in this video. On Monday’s episode of his eponymous show, the 38-year-old stated he thought this past weekend’s episode of GameDay should have aired from Provo for BYU vs. Utah, but also defended the show’s decision to go to Nashville for this week’s matchup between Vanderbilt and Missouri.
In the three years since he first joined GameDay on a full-time basis, McAfee has received no shortage of credit for helping reinvigorate the weekly ESPN pregame show. His comments on his Instagram story, however, seemingly hint at behind-the-scenes issues that weren’t previously known.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.