Pat McAfee says he has been getting death threats. The ESPN host put out a long message this week and said he had avoided his mentions and DMs. He still expected to find threats there, and he posted screenshots of some. Meanwhile, a female sports reporter has a blunt message about what he is describing.
Journalist and freelance color analyst for ESPN+, Leah Vann, quote-posted his message on X.
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"Pat McAfee wouldn't last a day having the DMs and mentions of a local female sports reporter. TV or beat writer."
Her post is getting attention because of what McAfee had just shared. One message threatened to break his jaw and used a homophobic slur, and another post wished for his death. None of that is acceptable, and Vann did not say otherwise. Her post suggests that female reporters deal with this kind of abuse all the time and get far less attention for it.
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Vann did not spell it out in the post, but her point lines up with years of research. A global study of women journalists by the International Center for Journalists found that nearly three in four women respondents experienced online violence.
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"Nearly three in four women respondents (73%) said they had experienced online violence."
Women in sports media have said this for years. In 2016, ESPN's Sarah Spain and reporter Julie DiCaro had men read hateful messages to their faces in a video.
"I may be hardened to the abuse now, but just because I can take it doesn't mean I should have to."
McAfee follows the ideology of "Don't read them." Veteran columnist Christine Brennan has earlier given similar advice about abusive messages: "Ignore, block, mute. Don't let anyone tell you what you can't do." That advice can be harder to follow for reporters whose jobs involve being reachable. McAfee wrote that the messages are everywhere anyway.
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Despite his advice to ignore the negativity, McAfee's connection with Utah was on display when ESPN's "College GameDay" visited the University last Saturday. Before the show, the school posted a video
on its official Instagram featuring students doing McAfee impressions.
McAfee said the video made him uncomfortable. He also brought up the killing of Charlie Kirk, and the comparison drew criticism and mockery. Utah deleted the video and apologized on Monday, taking "full accountability." ESPN defended McAfee.
"We support Pat and recognize the very real and valid concerns he has around safety and security."
There is a catch, though. Awful Announcing reported that the video never called McAfee a "corny creep," as he suggested. One student joked about avoiding a "corny" line, and another jokingly told him to keep his shirt on.
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McAfee also pointed to a "WE ARE ALLOWED TO AND SHOULD HATE THIS GUY" piece from The New York Times. Awful Announcing said the column is a Jerry Brewer piece in The Athletic, which the Times owns, and that it looks at how "GameDay" has changed and does not call for hatred.
The threats are a separate matter, and he was open about how they affect his family.
"The things that get said about what my daughter and son and wife deserve are all rather wild as well."
McAfee also revealed what happened before last year's "GameDay" in Knoxville, which was the show's first episode after Kirk's killing. FBI snipers and a large police presence were sent.
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"FBI's sending snipers so me and the lads don't get shot. That's crazy. I don't know if they teach how you're supposed to handle these types of things in classes or something, but I was a bit rattled by the current reality of my World."
Nevertheless, Utah has said sorry, ESPN has backed its host, and Vann has made her point. What matters now is whether the threats, whoever receives them, finally get the same attention.
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The post "Wouldn't Last a Day": Female ESPN Analyst Gives Pat McAfee a Brutal Reality Check Amid Death Threats & Utah Controversy
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