Former ESPN employees Jemele Hill, Michelle Beadle rally behind Pat McAfee over Norby Williamson controversy
Pat McAfee has been engaged in a feud with Norby Willamson since Aaron Rodgers linked talk show host Jimmy Kimmel to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on the ex-punter's eponymous show.
Since then, rumblings about the future of The Pat McAfee Show have emerged, especially after the New York Post's Andrew Marchand claimed that it was doing worse in the ratings than ESPN executives had anticipated.
On Friday's episode, McAfee used very strong words to describe his situation, calling the network's executive editor and head of studio and production a "rat" and accusing him of "sabotaging" his program.
He got support from ex-employees Jemele Hill and Michelle Beadle, who tweeted out the following messages:
"I can relate," Hill tweeted.
"Well, well, well...," tweeted Beadle.
Robert Griffin III shares thoughts on Pat McAfee-Norby Williamson controversy
Another colleague of McAfee's who reacted to his feud with Williamson was former quarterback Robert Griffin III.
In a short video he tweeted, Griffin said that both sides were better off amicably resolving their differences for the sake of the network's image:
"ESPN is a huge company filled with a lot of people with a lot of relationships.
"At the end of the day, any time there's fighting from within, it's not good for anybody. We need to put our arms around each other and commit to doing what we said we're going to do - celebrating sports."
ESPN issues statements about Pat McAfee's comments about Norby Williamson
McAfee's comments, which came the same day ESPN had reported that viewership for The Pat McAfee Show had gone up by 21% from its September platform debut, were not going to go unnoticed.
A few hours after the program ended, executive Mike Foss apologized on behalf of the network, regretting Aaron Rodgers' comments:
"It never should have happened. We all realized that in the moment."
He also promised a gradual change in the show's tone:
"The show will continue to evolve. It wouldn't surprise me if Aaron's role evolves with it."
On Saturday, it issued the following statement to USA Today Sports:
"No one is more committed to and invested in ESPN's success than Norby Williamson. At the same time, we are thrilled with the multi-platform success that we have seen from 'The Pat McAfee Show' across ESPN. We will handle this matter internally and have no further comment."
McAfee is yet to respond to the statement.