The Toy Story Sunday Funday alternate ESPN+ broadcast of Sunday’s NFL international game between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars took a turn for the weird in the third quarter. Throughout the game, the broadcast featured appearances from a wide range of Toy Story characters, including Slinky Dog (marking the first-down chains), Rex the dinosaur, and even Emperor Zurg.
But one particular appearance of the green aliens and their saucers led to announcers Booger McFarland and Drew Carter discussing of New York Jets’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers. And that then led to Rodgers’ talk of UFO sightings, and even the perhaps-not-so-kid-friendly topic of ayahuasca:
Well, ESPN almost made it through three quarters without a drug reference on the Toy Story kids game broadcast pic.twitter.com/E1qLeebcLe
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) October 1, 2023
“Football is already a difficult sport. Wow. It’s even getting more difficult with aliens and saucers flying around, Drew.” “Wonder if Aaron Rodgers is seeing these UFOs. Wouldn’t be the first time.” “[Laughs] He’s still on the ayahuasca.”
Well, Rodgers is known for his insistence that ayahuasca (which contains psychedelic substance DMT, and is considered illegal in the U.S. apart from specific groups’ religious-use exemptions) is “a plant,” not a drug (something even noted hot take artist Colin Cowherd finds outrageous). So he probably doesn’t have a problem with this. But that’s definitely an interesting reference for McFarland to make on a kids-focused broadcast.
[Deadspin on Twitter]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.