Pat McAfee isn’t the rube he’d like you to believe he is.
The former NFL punter became a media powerhouse by presenting himself as just another bro talking sports. He claims not to know anything about politics or science or current events, his self-deprecating denials bolstering his credibility as nothing more than a sports dude.
Really, though, it’s a cover for when he steps over the line.
McAfee wants to do whatever he wants and do it however he wants, and he doesn’t want to have to answer for any of it. He might not be political in the traditional sense of the word, but he is absolutely feeding the toxic mindset that has made our society meaner and harsher.
Take his show Tuesday.
In honor of Veterans Day, McAfee broadcast from the Marine Recruit Depot on Parris Island and had President Donald Trump on as a guest. At first glance, it’s laudable. No matter your politics, Trump is the Commander in Chief, as well as a sports fan, and what a great way to give our service men and women some shine.
(McAfee said he asked Barack Obama to come on, too, but the former president couldn’t make it because of a scheduling conflict.)
McAfee lets Trump stray from sports
But what should have been a feel-good, 15-minute salute to the troops wound up sideways, with Trump trashing Democrats and hyping his policies that are likely to harm many of the most vulnerable Americans, some of them veterans.
That shutdown “win” Trump bragged about? It means an end to the subsidies that have allowed millions of Americans to afford health insurance. That Big Beautiful Bill he touted? It includes cuts to Medicaid and food assistance that many veterans and their families rely on.
And because McAfee is so famously apolitical, he yukked along with it and gushed about what a great guy Trump is without any checking of the actual facts. Like that, rather than the hiring Trump mentioned, the VA is on track to shed about 30,000 jobs this year, which could make it harder for veterans to get care.
Fanning internet rumors
This pales in comparison, however, to how McAfee helped make Mary Kay Cornett’s life a living hell earlier this year.
In February, McAfee latched on to an internet rumor that an Ole Miss student was sleeping with her boyfriend’s father. There was absolutely no truth to it, nor were any of the people involved athletes.
That didn’t stop McAfee from barreling ahead and making salacious jokes about the young woman, however. He then shared a clip of the segment on his X account, where he has more than 3 million followers.
McAfee never named Cornett, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the details. The harassment that resulted got so bad Cornett had to move out of her dorm room, and she stopped going to classes in person.
“Having your life ruined by people who have no idea who you are is the worst feeling in the world,” Cornett told NBC News in April. “It makes you feel so alone. It’s a horrible experience.”
It took McAfee, a supposedly proud ‘Girl Dad,” five months to apologize.
“My hope is that this can be something that we all learn from going forward. I know we certainly have,” McAfee said in July. “Our goal with this show is to make the world a happier place, a better place. To celebrate life and sports and to unify folks. I, and we, don’t always get it right. But we’ll never stop trying.”
Does he really try, though? Or is he just making sure the paychecks keep coming?
McAfee’s entire brand is designed to appeal to “the manosphere,” young, white men who’ve embraced toxic masculinity as a means of belonging. Cruelty is mistaken for strength, willful ignorance is considered a sign of enlightenment, and anything goes so long as the hilarity is at someone else’s expense. That McAfee is just talking about sports doesn’t make the shtick any less problematic.
McAfee is both savvy and smart. You don’t go from a punter to a media mogul in less than a decade if you’re not. But with his reach comes responsibility. To not traffic in misinformation and nonsense. To not perpetuate misogyny. To not inject more coarseness into a society already drowning in it.
You don’t have to get political to be divisive. McAfee is proof.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.