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ESPN star Pat McAfee is keeping his foot on the gas amid rumors that he's signing a $60 million extension.
Earlier this summer, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported that McAfee could receive an extension that would pay him upwards of $60 million per year. Clearly, the top decision-makers at ESPN are pleased with his work on "The Pat McAfee Show" as well as his contributions on "College GameDay."
While it sounds like McAfee is about to get paid handsomely, ESPN has laid off a plethora of big names, including Ryan Clark, Cam Newton, Tom Pelissero and Karl Ravech. Some people have blamed McAfee's hefty salary for the latest round of layoffs. Even former NFL star J.J. Watt joked about that narrative.
“Slow, slow news day over there on the ESPN airwaves, huh?” Watt told McAfee, via Daily Mail. “I mean, besides the fact that you’re getting $100 million… Did they keep anybody? Or is everybody fired to pay you? I’m trying to figure that out.”
Even though McAfee is facing plenty of backlash, that didn't stop him from announcing his newest project. He'll be releasing his debut album, "The Diary of a Polarizing Figure," on August 14.
"For as long as I can remember my mere existence has made people hate my guts," McAfee wrote. "I’ve been writing songs about it for 20yrs & it’s time to let them aht.. A LOT of headlines & narratives.. if I was to die, I’d like my kids to know exactly who their dad is."
This announcement from McAfee didn't sit well with sports fans, that's for sure.
"No no you don’t understand, we simply have to fire Tom Pelissero and Stephania Bell in order to produce the Pat McAfee album," one fan sarcastically wrote.
"He really has no sense of self awareness whatsoever," a second fan commented.
McAfee addresses ESPN layoffs.
During this Tuesday's episode of "The Pat McAfee Show," the former NFL star commented on ESPN's layoffs.
"We hate any time this happens. Obviously this is terrible. We don’t like that," McAfee said. "But we are very honored that we are still partnered with ESPN and Disney for the good of sport and the future."
Despite those remarks from McAfee, it sounds like some of ESPN's audience has turned against him.
