WWE’s Pat McAfee Gets Stoned Live on ESPN as the Network Becomes a Full-Blown Circus
ESPN is officially a joke at this point, and Pat McAfee is the head clown with the biggest paycheck.
On Thursday’s show, cameras caught the former punter with something lit up and smoldering right there on set—ashtray and all—while he kept yapping.
The clip went nuclear. Everybody and their mother assumed it was weed. McAfee’s response? “Little sage never hurt nobody…” then immediately pivoted to the Bills smoking the Lions.
I’m a Huge Pothead!
And I still wouldn’t light up live on ESPN while they were handing me a ridiculous amount of money, to simply be an entertainer.
The optics are insane. This is national TV. This is the “Worldwide Leader.” And the guy they just kept throwing money at is out here treating the set like his living room couch.
Speaking of money: ESPN just laid off a bunch of actual talent—Ryan Clark, Cam Newton, Tom Pelissero, Karl Ravech, and more—while negotiating to pay McAfee somewhere in the $60-65 million range annually.
People got fired so the network could keep writing massive checks to the loudest guy in the building who owns his own show and does whatever the hell he wants. The contrast is so cartoonish it hurts.
WWE Superstar Pat McAfee
And let’s not forget the WWE chapter. Last year at WrestleMania 42, they shoved him into the main-event storyline with Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes like he was some essential piece of the puzzle.
For about a week or two until the entire professional wrestling world collectively said “Nope.”
The reaction was brutal. He got put through a table, RKO’d, stretchered out, and then “retired” from wrestling because… well, the whole thing was godawful.
The entertainment value was there for about five minutes, then it just became cringe. McAfee is still wildly entertaining as a personality. The energy is real. The guests show up. People watch.
But ESPN turning itself into his personal playground while axing competent people and letting him (allegedly) blaze on air is peak late-stage sports media absurdity.
A little sage never hurt nobody?
Brother, ESPN’s reputation just took a bigger hit than Randy Orton’s RKO.
