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Pat McAfee found himself defending his self-titled podcast after another prominent round of layoffs at ESPN.
On the July 21 episode of "The Pat McAfee Show," former Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals great J.J. Watt cracked a joke about the program's budget in relation to the layoffs during a a guest appearance on the show.
"Did they keep anybody, or is everybody fired to pay you?" Watt said. "I was trying to figure it out."
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McAfee feigned outrage through a smile, telling Watt his quip was "not funny" a couple of times before acknowledging the criticism his program has received.
"That is the narrative and I'm certainly taking it on the shins," McAfee said. "The boys and I are very proud of the work that we have done."
McAfee is currently making roughly $30 million from his work with ESPN, per The Athletic's Andrew Marchand. A total of $17 million comes from the licensing fees for "The Pat McAfee Show" while the remaining $13 million comes from his work with "College GameDay."
However, McAfee is negotiating a raise with the company, which is expected to pay him over $60 million, per Marchand. Of course, some of that will go to "The Pat McAfee Show's" production costs – which McAfee handles out of pocket – but that number has nonetheless come under scrutiny amid ESPN's swath of layoffs.
Pat McAfee ESPN layoffs reaction
McAfee expressed sympathy for his coworkers, referring to the layoffs as "terrible," but also remained insistent his program is not to blame for ESPN's decision.
"The first time we licensed the show through ESPN, one of these happened, we got blamed for it all," McAfee said. "It's like, blame us. OK, OK. Thank you. I feel like you don’t fully understand budgets and where things are coming from, but I do appreciate that."
"This time, we're getting blamed as well," he added. "Which I guess I can understand, but I mean, there’s billions and billions of dollars in these companies, and hard decisions have to get made. And we don’t like any of them, and we hope we're an asset to the company going forward."
Given ESPN's negotiations with McAfee, it clearly views him as one of its biggest assets. It will be interesting to see if he ends up with an expanded role in NFL coverage after the company's layoffs resulted in Ryan Clark, Cam Newton, Tom Pelissero and Stephania Bell exiting ESPN, among others.
In the meantime, McAfee will continue to focus on hosting his show while also preparing for the release of his debut album – "The Diary of a Polarizing Figure" – on August 14, 2026.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pat McAfee defends show amid ESPN layoffs: 'Proud of the work that we have done'
