Pat McAfee, an ESPN personality, faced backlash for making an insensitive joke about Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State sports doctor and convicted sexual abuser.
However, McAfee doubled down on the joke, refusing to apologize. The controversy began when McAfee responded to a tweet criticizing a Michigan State football jersey. McAfee jokingly suggested that Nassar was involved in the jersey’s design.
Pat McAfee Gets Dragged Over Double Downing on Larry Nassir Joke https://t.co/cJQAYHb4q6
— TMSPN.com (@sportsgossip) July 31, 2023
On his show, McAfee defended his joke, claiming it was just teasing his friend.
He expressed confusion as to why people demanded he delete the tweet, arguing that joking about Nassar was his way of shedding light on the seriousness of his crimes. McAfee also said that he believed they were considering the victims by joking about Nassar’s actions.
“People were like, ‘You need to delete this and apologize.’ I’m like, ‘Uh, why?’ I’m talking s— to my friend about something that definitely happened at his school … the way we decide to cover it is by talking s— to somebody who loves everything about Michigan State because it’s his school,” McAfee said. “If I went to Michigan State and this whole thing happened, if [my colleagues] didn’t say that to me, we would be avoiding something that is very serious, very terrible and very real.”
It got loud on the internet yesterday..
Larry Nassar is a terrible human being and this show has covered that pretty extensively #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/XkKydVvpHK
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) July 31, 2023
He apologized if his tweet was taken differently, but maintained that he was talking trash to his friend and not disrespecting the victims.
“So I do apologize to everybody that just took my six-word tweet and then said that I was disrespecting this and not thinking about the victims,” McAfee said. “It’s like, ‘What?’ I think we’re thinking about the victims, future victims and everything by reminding people that this motherf—– had a lot of power at Michigan State for a long time while being a terrible human being, and I’m just s— talking a friend.”
Probably too late for any of the victims or their families, as they had no choice but to hear Nassir’s name muttered once again.
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