Joe Scarborough goes after ESPN’s Pat McAfee: ‘It is a shame for the viewer’

Pat McAfee is a problem for ESPN’s “College GameDay,” Joe Scarborough of “Morning Joe” hammered away at Tuesday during election day.McAfee’s recent headline-grabbing issues with the University of Utah was the tipping point. “I’ve just had enough of this Pat McAfee ruining ‘College GameDay,’” Scarborough said Tuesday. “I look forward to waking up on Saturday mornings and watching that. ... It’s like he’s melting down. ...“It’s really ESPN. I mean, they run their company the way they want to run their company, but man, it is a shame for the viewer.”It's election day in America, and Morning Joe spent over two minutes discussing the country's most pressing issue: Pat McAfee ruining College GameDay"I don't know if they haven't gotten the message yet, but the manosphere that we all thought was brought in in '24, it may get… pic.twitter.com/a16be985Zt— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 3, 2026McAfee revealed there have been death threats against him as a result of the controversy surrounding ESPN’s “College GameDay” visit to Utah.“I’ve stayed away from my mentions and DMs this month since these back to back days but ... I’m sure if I went in there now, I’d find some wishes for and threats of death for me,” McAfee posted on X. “‘Don’t read them.’ They’re everywhere.”The post includes screenshots from direct messages threatening violence against him and tweets expressing a desire to see him dead.The issue, according to Scarborough, is the show has gotten away from college football being played on Saturday and it’s more about itself. “I love watching Rece (Davis),” he said. “I love watching those guys and watching Nick (Saban) on there talking. ... Kirk Herbstreit’s amazing. Desmond (Howard) — they’re all great. And they’re all being eclipsed by ESPN’s just insatiable desire to give this guy more time.”“Maybe you aren’t having to be yelling at people and being freaked out because two kids in Utah put up signs or say something that might offend you,” Scarborough said.Meanwhile, McAfee said he felt “uncomfortable” after the University of Utah posted a since-deleted video of students “dogging” him. He also said the video shared by the university account was inciteful against him.McAfee cited the visit to the University of Utah reminded him of assassination of Charlie Kirk.Utah, for its part, apologized Monday.MORE BY MARK HEIMEscaped Tennessee inmate on run caught after 10 days when truck gets stuck in mud in Kansas CityNov. 4, 2026, 11:09 a.m.Did Ron DeSantis break with Donald Trump before midterm? Nov. 4, 2026, 8:41 a.m.“I do get a bit (expletive) up when a couple days after The New York Times releases a ‘WE ARE ALLOWED TO AND SHOULD HATE THIS GUY’ piece, a university puts a video out from their own page, indicating, ‘We think he’s a corny creep here.’ It’s a weird time,” McAfee posted. “The things that get said about what my daughter and son and wife deserve are all rather wild as well.”McAfee cited an experience ahead of “College GameDay” in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2025 — the show’s first episode after Kirk was killed.He said security concerns arose about a potential “copycat” scenario, as “GameDay” was “the next huge gathering on a campus.”Read the original article on NJ.com. Add NJ.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.