ESPN
Popular ESPN personality and host Pat McAfee defended his routine interviews with controversial New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and explained why he believes they count as true sports journalism.
While speaking at a panel at ESPN’s flagship Bristol, Connecticut, campus on Wednesday, August 28, a question about “journalist standards” from CNBC reporter Alex Sherman led to Pat McAfee lengthily detailing and defending both his interviews with Rodgers and his radio show in general.
“Define journalistic standards,” McAfee replied to Sherman’s question before reportedly citing numerous instances in which he believes there’s been unfair coverage of his show.
As it specifically relates to Rodgers and giving a platform to his controversial views, McAfee said he believes that Rodgers’ status as an all-time great quarterback is the only reason he needs, and believes the interviews have been so noteworthy that they’ll appear in an eventual documentary about the four-time NFL MVP.
“I’ve heard some people say ‘Why’s he letting this guy on? He doesn’t push back,’” McAfee said.
“[Rodgers is on] the Mount Rushmore of NFL quarterbacks… This is one of the best football players of all time.” [The interviews] will probably be used in every Aaron Rodgers documentary 10 or 15 years from now. I don’t know if that’s journalism or not, in your guys’ eyes, but I think it’s certainly provided something useful for sports fans.”
“I understand that you may have a lot of reasons to potentially hate me. I think they’re misguided. I would appreciate if you would give me and my guys a chance. I think we’re helping out sports media as a whole in the future. I think we’re going to get some things wrong and we apologize for that,” McAfee told the crowd.
“But whenever you’re ripping our s— and trying to kill us, I think ‘journalistic standards’ certainly is problematic. We want to be good for sports in sports media. We want to build sports. And we’d appreciate if you just gave us a fair shot.”
McAfee also confirmed that, despite the controversies his appearances generated last year, he expects Rodgers to return to the program in his usual Tuesday slot when the NFL season begins.
The NFL season begins on September 5 with a Thursday Night Football matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens. Rodgers and the Jets kick off their 2024 campaign with a MNF game against the San Francisco 49ers on September 9.