Pat McAfee corrects himself after swearing as he still gets used to ESPN rules

13 September 2023 , 15:55

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Pat McAfee held his show on ESPN last week

Pat McAfee has had to apologise for swearing less than a week into his new ESPN show.

The former NFL punter accepted a big-money move from FanDuel to join ESPN, signing a five-year, £68 million deal to exclusively stream his shows from their platforms.

A former member of the Indianapolis Colts, the star has had to tone down his show, originally being shown on DAZN and then YouTube where he was allowed to use more colourful language.

But ESPN, which is owned by Disney, limits the use of swear words on the air - preferring McAfee not to use any curse words at all.

On Wednesday though, McAfee apologised for using the f-word.

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When speaking about New York Jets star quarterback — and frequent guest of the show — Aaron Rodgers' season-ending injury in the win over the Buffalo Bills, McAfee said: "I was holding out optimism until [head coach Robert] Saleh comes up to the thing and goes, 'Yep, pop his Achilles', we're f****d'".

He then said: "Oh can't, say that here on ESPN," before counting to five and rephrasing the previous statement. But ESPN had already prepared for this exact scenario, with it airing McAfee on a delay.

McAfee walked away from his four-year, $120 million (£96m) deal with FanDuel that he signed in 2021, reportedly having options take his show too.

Pat McAfee accidentally swore when streaming his show, which is on tape delay on ESPN

His move to ESPN was met with much controversy after the company laid off 20 well-known reporters following their acquisition of the "Pat McAfee Show."

Within weeks of McAfee's mega-deal, reports suggested ESPN was set to make a number of cuts at the company in the hopes of saving "tens of millions of dollars."

And McAfee had responded to the job cuts in a long statement.

He said: "I did a lot of reflecting about our show's journey while I was getting murdered on the internet today. All roads lead back to how honoured I am to be the leader of such a talented group and how lucky I am to be a part of this team.

"We do our thing. We enjoy ourselves. And we never blink. Basement, box truck, world stoppage ... you name it, the show rolls on.

(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

"We're very pumped to be joining ESPN and our goal is that 'mass exits' are never a thing again. We hope to help that. Obviously, that's a lofty goal, but that's how I truly look at life.

"I wish we could've worked alongside a lot of the folks that got released today. Some absolute legends, that we all respect, in the sports media world were trending today for losing jobs. That sucks, no matter how you slice it.

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"We're gonna continue to control the things we can control, try to do daily sports coverage in an entertaining and informative fashion and be thankful for all of the opportunities that have been earned through a lot of hard work and commitment from the group of dudes I get to call co-workers."

Charlie Wilson