Pat McAfee badly wanted to interview Dan Campbell this week. So badly that he was willing to wage war against the Detroit Lions for declining his request to interview their head coach.
Tuesday afternoon, while interviewing Aaron Rodgers in his weekly spot, McAfee revealed that he was denied access to Campbell ahead of Detroit’s pivotal season finale with the Green Bay Packers this Sunday. McAfee proceeded to put the Lions on blast with an expletive-laden rant, warning the team of what’s to come on his show should they lose to the Packers this weekend.
This is incredibly weird energy because your interview request gets denied #OnePride https://t.co/1JEPvr72dt pic.twitter.com/IVR7I20s5y
— Edwardian. (@DepressedDETN) January 3, 2023
“It was their PR person, and the way they went about declining it, I was like, ‘Oh, OK, alright. If that’s how it’s gonna be.'” McAfee ranted. “And there’s a lot of people from Detroit going, ‘He’s hunkering down, it’s a big week.’ This isn’t Pee Wee football, shut the f*ck up, OK. The coach is gonna be on a microphone, this is the biggest game of the year that’s gonna happen.”
The old, ‘it’s not what you did, it’s the way you did it that hurt me’ gripe from McAfee. It only took McAfee a few hours before realizing he was a little over-the-top in alienating the Lions for claiming their head coach wasn’t able to take on any extra interviews this week ahead of their big game. And yes, Rodgers found time to go on McAfee’s show, but Rodgers is also paid by McAfee’s show to make weekly appearances.
Just a few hours after the rant, McAfee issued a lengthy statement acknowledging he was acting like a “baby back spoiled b*tch,” by railing against the Lions.
Dear @evanfoxy, @Lions, and Lions fans pic.twitter.com/sLht5WLBxR
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 3, 2023
McAfee has a history of waging war against entities for blocking guests from joining his show. In 2020, McAfee similarly slammed ESPN for allegedly prohibiting their talent from joining his program. Two years later, McAfee appeared to have forgiven ESPN , joining College GameDay and launching his own Saturday night college football alternate cast on the network. So if history repeats itself, look for McAfee to be coaching the Lions by 2025.

About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com
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