Pat McAfee clarifies ESPN management, not talent, to blame for YouTube TV social media campaign

Pat McAfee wants everyone to know he wasn’t throwing his ESPN colleagues under the bus.

After calling out the network’s strategy of having on-air talent record promotional videos during the ongoing YouTube TV blackout, McAfee clarified Wednesday that his frustration was aimed at corporate decision-makers, not the personalities who appeared in the spots.

The moment came during J.J. Watt’s weekly Wednesday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, when the NFL on CBS analyst ribbed McAfee about not actually visiting the website that ESPN was directing viewers to.

“Once again, not the boys’ fault that are doing it,” McAfee told Watt. “That should’ve never been an idea.”

“I can’t watch ESPN..

I didn’t go to the website” 😂😂 ~ @JJWatt #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/KR9ND0w1RI

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 5, 2025

“Whoever’s idea that was just coming from a place of not understanding the reality of everything,” he continued. “These people all love sports, want sports, so that’s why I get so like, ‘Man, why are we doing this?'”

McAfee specifically defended Kirk Herbstreit, who was among the ESPN personalities who recorded messages urging fans to visit KeepMyNetworks.com to pressure YouTube TV during the carriage dispute.

“Herbie’s already got enough on his plate,” McAfee said. “Herbie’s already got enough people for whatever reason, because he’s been calling games for 30 years and has the voice that he has in this entire thing…”

ESPN coordinated a social media campaign featuring its biggest names — including Herbstreit, Adam Schefter, Mike Greenberg, Stephen A. Smith, and Scott Van Pelt — all of whom directed viewers to Disney’s website to “speak up” against YouTube TV. The messaging landed poorly with many fans who saw millionaire personalities asking working-class subscribers to fight corporate battles.

McAfee refused to participate in the campaign, though ESPN did stream College GameDay on his X account over the weekend, drawing 1.18 million unique viewers.

“It was an honor to be able to stream that,” McAfee said. “And who knows what the future looks like there?”

As for the immediate future, McAfee’s decision to double down on his criticism while clarifying his target protected his colleagues while keeping the blame exactly where he thought it belonged. Herbstreit, Schefter, Greenberg — they were doing what ESPN asked them to do. The executives who greenlit this campaign fundamentally misread the situation. Fans don’t want to be recruited as soldiers in a carriage dispute. They just want to watch football.

McAfee’s unique position at ESPN — licensing his show rather than working as a traditional employee — gives him room to say what most on-air talent can’t. He used that freedom on Tuesday to blast the strategy. He used it again on Wednesday to make sure nobody thought he was going after his colleagues personally. The criticism stayed focused on the decision-makers who thought this approach would work.

“We need each other,” McAfee said. “A lot of people saying ‘greedy corporations,’ yeah, need each other, especially with where sports are right now and we’re in the middle of it. Stop asking me to go to a website. I don’t want to do that. So stop that. All you’re doing is pissing everybody off even more.”

The dispute has left YouTube TV’s roughly 10 million subscribers unable to access ESPN, ABC, SEC Network, ACC Network, and other Disney-owned channels. It wiped out college football coverage over the weekend and continues to impact Monday Night Football and other sports programming.

The blackout continues with no resolution in sight.

And what won’t change the outcome is having Kirk Herbstreit tell fans to visit a website. McAfee understood that Tuesday. He made sure everyone understood Wednesday that Herbstreit wasn’t the problem — the people who put him in that position were.