Aaron Rodgers and Pat McAfee have become the biggest problem that ESPN desperately needs to solve

The Pat McAfee Show was purchased by ESPN with the idea of it being a major solution to the problems of the company’s future. Instead, over these last few weeks, it’s been much more of a problem.

At the center of it all is Aaron Rodgers, who has managed to create quite the circus act with his last few appearances on McAfee’s platform.

Last week Rodgers inexplicably used the platform to suggest ties between ABC’s late-night show host, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jeffrey Epstein, who was a convicted sex offender and a disgraced financer.

Kimmel immediately called Rodgers out for his claim and threatened to sue. McAfee tried to downplay Rodgers’ accusation as a “joke” but it didn’t work. Kimmel fired back on his show’s opening monologue of the year, taking Rodgers to task for his suggestion.

In between all of that, chaos ensued. McAfee called out ESPN executive Norby Williamson by name for supposedly leaking false ratings information to the press in an attempt to “sabotage” McAfee’s show.

It doesn’t stop there. Rodgers made his weekly Tuesday appearance on the show and went back at Kimmel, once again trying to downplay the tie between the late-night host and Epstein he created as a simple shot at Kimmel with no incriminating ties.

He then proceeded to call out former For The Win founding editor and current ESPN executive Mike Foss, who accurately described the initial Kimmel claim from Rodgers as a “dumb and factually inaccurate” joke.

Rodgers asserted that Foss’ comments did more harm than good while calling him out directly for his apology. He called out Foss as the problem with the “mainstream media” and began an unbridled rant about conspiracy theories and COVID-19 and everything else on his mind with Pat McAfee and his co-host A.J. Hawk silently capitulating their airwaves to the Jets quarterback.

Amidst all that babble, Rodgers dropped a cherry on top about Foss. “I don’t think Mike Foss watched the clip,” Rodgers said. “I don’t know who that is. I don’t work for you, Mike.”

Ah, and there it is, folks. Yes. Therein lies the problem. Rodgers came on ESPN’s airwaves on an ESPN property to, once again for a second consecutive week, call out an ESPN executive. And he’s not wrong! He doesn’t work for ESPN. But the Pat McAfee Show is an ESPN show. Can anyone tell me the last time nonsense like this was espoused on an ESPN program without consequence? I mean, my goodness. Bill Simmons was suspended for three weeks just for calling Roger Goodell a liar. Jemele Hill was suspended for two weeks for a tweet.

Pat McAfee calls an ESPN executive a “rat” live on the air and nothing happens? Got it.  Aaron Rodgers can tell Mike Foss he doesn’t work for him and continue to come on an ESPN show? OK, cool.

It seems to me that anybody who is a part of this show is given carte blanche. They’re allowed to do what they will. Call out executives. Rattle off your wildest conspiracy. As long as they watch the clip on TikTok? It’s all gravy.

To understand how we got here, you’ve got to understand where ESPN is coming from. The company has a problem — it’s had it for years. It’s the same problem so many other sports media companies have run into. The problem is this: Gen Z doesn’t like sports.

Only 23 percent of Zoomers would describe themselves as “passionate” sports fans, per the New York Times. That fact alone poses an existential problem that ESPN and every other sports media company has been wracking their brains to try and solve.

Enter Pat McAfee. For ESPN, he is supposed to be the solution — the cure. To an extent, the Pat McAfee Show is exactly what the doctor ordered.

McAfee draws in the audience ESPN covets. The viewership numbers of aren’t that impressive — it only averaged 332,000 viewers through December, per The Athletic. For perspective, First Take averaged 611,000 through December in the time slot just before McAfee’s show.

But McAfee wasn’t hired for television ratings. Instead, it’s the multi-platform audience he brings to the table that ESPN has proudly touted since acquiring his show in May of 2023.

It’s because of that and the $17 million annual salary he’s paid by ESPN that McAfee can go unchecked. He makes the big bucks. Just like any other company out there, he’s treated differently. So are his friends. Rodgers falls under that umbrella.

But folks, this can’t last. Not like this.

McAfee, Rodgers and company have become a problem ESPN needs to solve. Every week the show turns into whatever the opposite of PBS is. Rodgers rattles off unchecked conspiracy theories and baseless COVID-19 claims that have been debunked for years at this point. Now, they’re calling out executives and getting into verbal spats with other Disney-based talents.

Look, man. This is all fun and games now. But, like we just saw with Kimmel, it doesn’t take much for everything to go left. Maybe Kimmel won’t sue. Maybe the Disney-on-Disney beef won’t escalate any further. But this is absolutely going to happen again. It might not be Kimmel, but it’ll certainly be someone else. And the results could be much, much worse.

That’s why ESPN should nip this in the bud right here and right now. Otherwise, this dumpster fire might turn into ash quicker than any of us ever expected.

This piece expresses the views of its author(s), separate from those of this publication.