Not much time passes between controversies that Pat McAfee is involved with at ESPN, whether it is something internal or external. But the bombastic host can at least be secure in knowing that he has unequivocal support coming from one of ESPN’s top executives in Burke Magnus.
The president of content at the Worldwide Leader in Sports has been instrumental in bringing McAfee to the network and the host’s rise on both his licensed daily show and as the new face of College GameDay. When McAfee touts his defenders at the network in whatever feud he is involved in at the moment, Magnus is usually mentioned in helping him to fight off ESPN’s “deep state.” Magnus has even said that he can’t imagine ESPN’s daily lineup without McAfee at this point.
But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t headaches and fires to put out along the way.
One of those came earlier this fall when Pat McAfee launched an unprompted social media rant aimed at College GameDay producers and other “old whites” at ESPN who are aligned against him. Given McAfee is the centerpiece of both the opening and closing segment as well as his field goal kicking contest, one wonders what the show would look like if he actually had support behind the scenes.
In an appearance on the SI Media podcast with Jimmy Traina, Magnus once again backed his superstar signing. And in answering a question about the dirty laundry he aired about College GameDay, the ESPN executive brushed it off as a nontroversy.
“I don’t think he ripped a GameDay producer, I think he just felt frustrated, and it’s no different than how he’s felt since he came over here. He’s trying to fit himself into a corporate environment, which is really challenging for a guy who’s been an innovator and a mold-breaker, and by the way whose instincts in that regard has gotten him all the success that he’s had to date,” Magnus said.
“We have a great working relationship with him. When something like that happens, it’s an easy conversation. Think of it in sports terms, right? The old, keep it in the locker room dynamic, right? You’d rather not take stuff outside the family of that nature,” he added.
“It’s really hard for folks to understand but he doesn’t really mean it with any intent to harm. Frustration just kind of comes out of him at times as does all the joy and humor and enthusiasm that he has for sports. Seems to me that’s who he is as a human being and that’s what makes him great. I guess that’s the line we walk or the way we approach it. It’s not a controversy, it’s something that has to be managed both internally and externally and communicated.”
Magnus did not go into detail with Traina about the report from Front Office Sports (where he was also quoted defending the College GameDay star) that went into explosive detail regarding allegations that ESPN producers being fed up with “diva behavior” from McAfee. But apparently it’s way too much to ask a 38 year-old man to control his emotions to the point that he isn’t being passive-aggressive and bashing his co-workers on Instagram to his millions of followers.
However, he did have some words for outlets that he believes are playing a role in “manufacturing” controversies regarding Pat McAfee and others at the network.
“We’re nowhere near it being a controversy inside ESPN,” Magnus stated. “I just want that to be clear because the other thing that exists here, and I’m not trying to swat it aside or make it sound irrelevant, but the news cycle that lives off the backs of these kinds of things that drags on for days upon days among those outlets, we all know who they are, who have fashioned a business around commenting on ESPN and in many cases manufacturing a controversy that doesn’t actually exist, at least internally, is part of the issue here. Just because it gets said ten times on X over a week’s span doesn’t make it different to us.”
It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly Magnus is saying is a “manufactured” controversy because nobody made up Pat McAfee ranting about GameDay producers, calling Norby Williamson a rat, apologizing to Mary Kate Cornett, letting Aaron Rodgers’ conspiracy theories run wild and linking Jimmy Kimmel to Jeffrey Epstein without pushback, drawing criticism for his friendly interview with Donald Trump, or countless other stories out of thin air.
Regardless, we’ve seen this pattern so many times that we know exactly how it will play out for the next inevitable controversy. It’s like a rich teenager who keeps wrecking his brand new SUV and then immediately gets bought a new one. McAfee will say or do something that will draw criticism or create controversy, ESPN will defend it or laugh it off as “Pat being Pat,” and we will all go on with our merry lives until we meet again.