ESPN Mess: Pat McAfee’s ‘Sabotage’ Claim To Be Handled ‘Internally'

ESPN plans to handle the situation involving popular host Pat McAfee and a prominent executive “internally,” according to The NY Daily News citing a statement the network issued Saturday.

As MC posted over the weekend, McAfee on Friday accused Norby Williamson, ESPN’s head of event and studio production, of trying to sabotage “The Pat McAfee Show” after someone allegedly leaked ratings.

“No one is more committed to and invested in ESPN’s success than Norby Williamson,” ESPN said in a statement to USA Today. “At the same time, we are thrilled with the multi-platform success that we have seen from ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ across ESPN. We will handle this matter internally and have no further comment.”

It was a busy week for “The Pat McAfee Show,” on which Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers made a controversial comment Tuesday involving late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and a list of alleged Jeffrey Epstein associates that prompted Kimmel to threaten legal action. ABC, which airs “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and ESPN are both owned by Disney.

McAfee apologized Wednesday for “being a part of” the Rodgers situation. Then on Friday, McAfee — a former NFL punter — took aim at Williamson.

“There are some people actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN,” McAfee claimed. “More specifically, I believe Norby Williamson is the guy who is attempting to sabotage our program. I’m not 100 percent sure. That is just seemingly the only human that has information, and then somehow that information gets leaked, and it’s wrong.”

ESPN released the official ratings Friday afternoon, saying “The Pat McAfee Show” had “brought in 1.7 million total reach per show across all platforms in [the] month of December — up 21 percent from September.”