Female ESPN anchors call out Pat McAfee: 'I could never be that soft'
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Pat McAfee is nearly a week into beef with the University of Utah, where he said he had a "very, very uncomfortable" experience while "College GameDay" was on campus.
After the university posted a video featuring some mildly negative comments about McAfee on social media, the polarizing ESPN host said on air that he hopes to "never see [Utah fans] again" and later blasted Utah for posting the video when he was about to an "infomercial" for the school.
McAfee even referenced the assassination of political commentator Charlie Kirk, saying, "I thought to myself, has anything like really scary happened at like a college gathering in the state of Utah recently? Like, do we think we should be amplifying reasons for why people hate my guts as a university? I don’t know."
McAfee's reaction to what many perceived as a non-controversy has drawn criticism, including from a pair of former ESPN hosts who called his reaction "soft."
Here's what you need to know.
MORE:Pat McAfee doubles down on University of Utah criticism
Female ESPN anchors call out Pat McAfee
Former ESPN host Michelle Beadle ripped McAfee's response during an appearance on "The Dan Patrick Show."
"We are constantly told as women that we’re hysterical, we’re too emotional, we can’t handle things. I can’t tell you how many death and rape threats I’ve gotten via social media since 2009 when we got on Twitter originally. I could never be that soft. Never," Beadle said. "This has been one of the softest, and we’ve seen quite a few from some of the people at the top of this food pyramid of sports media, one of the softest reactions to something that was so ridiculously unserious."
Beadle added that she is "enjoying every single second" of the situation involving McAfee.
Front Office Sports reported days after McAfee's rant about Utah that he had been advised to wear a bulletproof vest on "College GameDay" shortly after Kirk's assassination. ESPN also defended McAfee, calling his concerns "very real and valid."
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Former "SportsCenter" host Linda Cohn, meanwhile, said on her podcast that she didn't understand McAfee's reaction to a video few saw, relatively speaking.
"You could have laughed at it; you could have given a little back to them; you're an entertainer; there's material sitting right there you could have made fun," Cohn said. "Instead, by the end of Gameday, you're picking Houston; you're telling the Utah crowd, 'I hope I never see you guys again.'"
McAfee and the "College GameDay" crew are in Bloomington, Indiana, this weekend, but if Utah keeps its success going, ESPN could be forced into an interesting decision in the years to come.
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