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Pat McAfee Draws Criticism After Insensitive Larry Nassar, Michigan State Tweet

The popular ESPN personality’s attempt at humor did not go over well.

Nick Selbe

Pat McAfee Draws Criticism After Insensitive Larry Nassar, Michigan State Tweet
Pat McAfee Draws Criticism After Insensitive Larry Nassar, Michigan State Tweet /
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Popular football analyst and host Pat McAfee’s tenure at ESPN got off to an awkward start when, weeks after signing him to a five-year, $85 million deal, the network laid off several high-profile and, in many cases, long-tenured employees. The timing of McAfee’s lucrative signing and the layoffs made for a bit of awkwardness that the former NFL punter tried to smooth over.

On Sunday, though, an ill-conceived joke once again brought McAfee more criticism.

Responding to a tweet from Evan Fox, a colleague on The Pat McAfee Show, disparaging alternate football uniforms worn by Michigan State, McAfee quipped that the jerseys were designed by disgraced former Spartans sports doctor Larry Nassar. 

Nassar worked at the school for over two decades and, in 2017, pled guilty to 10 counts of felony criminal sexual conduct in the first degree for assaulting gymnasts for years. He also pled guilty to possession of child pornography and was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison.

“I think [Larry] Nassar was in on the design team actually,” McAfee wrote.

After receiving a reply to the tweet that suggested it should be deleted, McAfee doubled down by responding with a GIF of ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith saying, “For what?”

Unsurprisingly, the grossly insensitive tweet did not sit well with many people, given the heinous and widespread nature of Nassar’s crimes. 

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Nick Selbe
NICK SELBE

Nick Selbe is a programming editor at Sports Illustrated who frequently writes about baseball and college sports. Before joining SI in March 2020 as a breaking/trending news writer, he worked for MLB Advanced Media, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. Selbe received a bachelor's in communication from the University of Southern California.

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