Stephen A. Smith thinks people who see a double standard in how ESPN handles Pat McAfee are “being immature.”
The First Take star has an interesting dynamic with his ESPN counterpart, but he will never not defend him. Smith has praised McAfee, sharing his gratitude for the former Indianapolis Colts punter and what he’s brought to sports media when that opportunity is bestowed upon him. But the two, who might just be bigger than the Worldwide Leader itself, aren’t without their run-ins — even if Smith has said the reported tension is a inaccurate.
But what Smith can’t call a “flat-out lie” is that he has colleagues at ESPN who are irritated with the way the network has handled McAfee’s show. There’s obviously been no shortage of controversy there — looking at you, Aaron Rodgers — but ESPN will tell you repeatedly that it has no creative control over The Pat McAfee Show.
Regardless, McAfee’s show is licensed to the network, and he appears on College GameDay every Saturday during the college football season. So, the perceived double standard has rubbed people McAfee (and Smith) would rub elbows with the wrong way.
Smith was confronted with that very notion by CNBC’s Alex Sherman.
“No, [I don’t understand the irritation]. I think they’re being immature,” Smith told Sherman. “I love my colleagues; we have a great team at ESPN, and I’m not speaking against any individual. But, understand the business, Pat McAfee is not an employee of ESPN. They basically bought his product, and they said they leased his show, and it’s his baby — that’s what it is. His stuff is on ESPN, but he is not employed by ESPN. So, if you’re not an employee, you operate under different rules.
“The aspiration, for me, is to be in Pat’s position, to a large degree. It’s never going to be the case with First Take, but it’s damn sure going to be the case with everything else if I’m going to remain at ESPN because I have other things that I want to do. And I don’t want to hear from them, ‘Oh, we don’t want this. We don’t want that.’ Just like he doesn’t have to hear that from them. Now, when it comes to First Take, that’s your creative; that’s something you create. You retain my services to contribute to that show, and I’ve been blessed and fortunate enough to be No. 1 for 13 straight years.”
But, in the end, when it comes to the “other stuff,” Smith makes no qualms about it — that’s his.
“You see President Trump get into the whole, you know, the whole Gaza situation with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Smith added. “They might have one position; I might have another. You’re Trump giving an executive order on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports — they might have one position, and I have another. I’m entitled to that.
“And, to me, what I think people at ESPN, who are critical of Pat McAfee, are missing is that he opened the gates for us to be able to do that. I’m incredibly appreciative for Pat McAfee’s presence on the air. And I don’t think Pat McAfee realizes how appreciative I am of what he’s brought to the table. He’s opened the floodgates to a potential level of freedom we never knew existed at the Worldwide Leader until he arrived. How can you hate on that? I don’t understand that at all… Whether he did so intentionally or not, he has opened a potpourri of opportunities for so many of us within the business.”
Smith can dismiss the criticism all he wants, but the tension surrounding McAfee’s ESPN deal isn’t just office gossip — it’s seemingly a genuine frustration for those playing by a different set of rules. Whether fair or not, McAfee’s unique arrangement has created a ripple effect that ESPN leadership is content to ignore. And while Smith sees McAfee’s presence as a game-changer, plenty of his colleagues still see it as a double standard.
