ESPN personality Pat McAfee drew ire on social media over the weekend after making a joke that referenced convicted sexual abuser Larry Nassar. Today, he addressed the controversy.
McAfee was responding to a tweet from Evan Fox, an employee of The Pat McAfee Show, that poked fun at unappealing football uniforms recently released by Michigan State. "I still can't believe Michigan State thought it was okay to roll out these uniforms," Fox wrote.
In response, McAfee joked that "Nassar was in on the design team actually."
I think Nassar was in on the design team actually
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) July 30, 2023
The tweet references Larry Nassar, who is currently serving 40 to 175 years in prison after being convicted in 2018 of molesting young girls under the false pretense of medical care. Some of his victims were Olympic gymnasts representing the United States. Medalists Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, Gabby Douglas, Jordyn Wieber and Simone Biles have all accused him of sexual assault. He admitted to assaulting athletes at both Michigan State and USA Gymnastics.
McAfee's joke connects the team's bad uniforms to one of the university's most infamous employees. He brushed off calls to delete the tweet soon afterwards, and later addressed it on his own show.
It got loud on the internet yesterday..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) July 31, 2023
Larry Nassar is a terrible human being and this show has covered that pretty extensively #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/XkKydVvpHK
"There's an all-out onslaught against me for simply linking one terrible thing from a school with the most terrible thing from a school to a friend in a reply tweet, talking shit to a friend," he said, going on to explain that he was trying to remind his audience that Nassar maintained power at Michigan State despite sinister actions behind the scenes.
"I'm talking shit to my friend about something that definitely happened at his school, and I said this guy was on a design team. We believe Larry Nassar [was a] terrible human, worst human, disgusting human... I do apologize to everybody that took my six-word tweet and said that I was disrespecting this and not thinking about the victims. I think we're thinking about the victims, future victims, everything, by reminding people that this motherfucker had a lot of power at Michigan State for a long time while being a terrible human being."
Many replies had found the tweet distasteful, along with questioning its comedic value:
When I prayed on Pat McAfee’s downfall I didn’t expect it to come from a “joke” about sexual assault on 265 women including kids https://t.co/zhy3PMhzis
— Molly (@FSUmollz) July 30, 2023
ESPN has laid off numerous, legitimate, longtime journalists… and spent tens of millions on a guy who thinks it’s funny to joke about sexual assault. Everything wrong with modern media is summed up here. https://t.co/SU2og2bNQi
— Nick LaFave (@NickLaFave) July 30, 2023
I don’t even understand what he’s implying here https://t.co/J1Zj4pkf5f
— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) July 30, 2023
ESPN, McAfee's employer, declined to comment to Fox News about the tweet. The company previously gave the Arthur Ashe Courage Award to victims of Nassar's abuse.
