The University of Utah apologized Monday to ESPN’s Pat McAfee after a handful of students mocked him as “nerdy” and “creepy,” triggering the college football personality during his assignment last week in Salt Lake City.
The students made mildly derogatory comments about the former Indianapolis Colts punter, which were recorded and posted on the school’s Instagram account. The video has since been deleted.
“We sincerely apologize for creating the impression that Pat was unsafe or unwelcome on our campus,” the university said in a statement on social media.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. Pat and the entire GameDay team are always welcome at the University of Utah and we deeply appreciate the opportunity provided by ESPN to showcase our university and community,” the statement said.
McAfee said he wasn’t bothered by the criticism as much as he was by the fact that students were allowed to use the university’s platform to make their points.
“A child says: ‘Ah, he’s old-fashioned.’ Another kid calls me creepy,” the ESPN personality said Monday on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “OK, if these kids would have done that on their own blogs, it’s fine. I mean, everyone shoots me for everything anyway, I get it.”
“The university publishes this,” he continued. “Like, as I was getting ready to go out and do an infomercial for the place, and then I’m walking in front of thousands of people. That’s how the university feels about it. It’s an uncomfortable feeling. I’m like, I’m getting a lot of shrapnel coming from a lot of places. The university is putting that out there? That’s something I’ve never really experienced in my entire life.”
McAfee appeared to draw a comparison between himself and right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk, who was shot to death on September 10 last year at Utah Valley University in Orem.
“I wondered: Did something pretty scary happen recently at a college gathering at Utah State?” » McAfee said. “Should we amplify the reasons why people hate me? So I don’t know, there were a lot of mixed feelings.”
McAfee is one of the most polarizing figures in modern sports media.
Last year, he was forced to apologize to a University of Mississippi student after amplifying a false rumor that she was having an affair with her boyfriend’s father.
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