The University of Utah is saying sorry to Pat McAfee for a social media post that “missed the mark” ahead of last weekend’s “College GameDay” visit, which was at the center of the well-known sports media personality’s gripe with the school.
McAfee appeared more toned down during Saturday’s show and explained on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday that he felt “very, very uncomfortable” during the stop, in part, due to the video of students doing impressions of him.
Now the University of Utah is attempting to do damage control in response to McAfee’s public criticism of how he was treated.
“Our goal during the visit was to create lighthearted engagement regarding Pat being back on campus, but we missed the mark,” the school said in a statement. “University staff are responsible for reviewing and posting content on official social media accounts and we take full accountability for that decision.
“University officials have reached out to Pat to express appreciation and regret. We sincerely apologize for creating any perception that Pat was unsafe or unwelcome on our campus. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pat and the entire GameDay crew are always welcome at the University of Utah and we deeply appreciate the opportunity ESPN provides to showcase our university and community.”
Among the comments that McAfee made on Monday in response to how he felt about the Utah visit, he said that he would “never go to that place” again and made allusions to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
In a statement released to The Athletic, ESPN said that it supports McAfee.
“The safety and security of our on-air team, crew and fans is paramount at ‘College GameDay,’” a network spokesperson told the outlet. “We are committed to ensuring a safe environment, and given the very real threats that members of our team face, we take issues involving their safety seriously. We support Pat and recognize the very real and valid concerns he has around safety and security.”
The post in question was taken down from Utah’s social channels, but has lived on online by other accounts posting it.
“One kid goes, ‘Ah, he’s corny.’ Another kid calls me creepy,” McAfee described the video on his show on Monday. “OK, if these kids would have done this on their own blogs, all good. I mean, everybody’s taking shots at me anyways for everything; I get it.
“… The university puts that out. Like, as I’m about to go out and do an infomercial for the place, and then I’m walking in front of thousands of these people. This is how the university feels about it. It’s an uncomfortable feeling. I’m like, I’m getting a lot of shrapnel from a lot of places. The university is putting this out? That’s something I just had never experienced really in my entire life.”
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