The only place in the Disney media kingdom where you can get away with calling a 22-year-old woman a “White b–” is on weekday afternoons on ESPN.
That's where “The Pat McAfee Show” lives and airs all over North America. It's the spot on Monday where he decided to open his show by using that line in defense of Caitlin Clark and the uproar over the perceived cheap shots she's getting as a WNBA rookie, which has led to a discussion about the role that race and stardom play into Clark's treatment in the league and in the media.
McAfee, the talented talk show host/”College GameDay” analyst/WWE commentator, decided the best way to put an exclamation point on an opening monologue was to turn to the b-word:
“I would like the media people to keep saying, 'This rookie class, this rookie class, this rookie class,'” McAfee said. “No, just call it what it is: there is one white b– for the Indiana team who is a superstar.”
The network declined comment. McAfee later apologized in a post on X, saying he should not have used the term.
“My intentions when I said it were complementary, as was the entire segment,” he wrote, “but many people say it certainly wasn't that way at all. That is 100% my fault and for that I apologize… I have also sent an apology to Caitlin.”
Let's call it what it is: If you were to walk the halls of Bristol on Monday and describe someone that way, ESPN's HR department would remind you of every harassment video you need to watch. You'll probably get suspended or worse.
ESPN can hide behind the fact that McAfee is not an employee. It pays him more than $17 million a year but rents his show, with McAfee retaining creative control. McAfee pays all of its people, including returning freelancers like Aaron Rodgers. But this was on ESPN's broadcast. The technical details of the scheme do not change this.
The Internet, where McAfee emerged, first at Barstool Sports and with an incessant social media presence, has cruder sensibilities than those touted by a Disney-owned company. McAfee may not have meant any harm by calling Clark a “White b–,” and he could be pointing to the reputation of a WNBA player. clear use of the same wordbut he is not the one who decides who is harmed.
The topic of Clark's popularity has grown after Chicago Sky's Chennedy Carter fouled Clark from behind in a game on Saturday, a blatant foul that drew criticism from Carter's own coach. Carter looked like she had called Clark the b-word too, right before he did.
But talking on the field, WNBAer to WNBAer, is different from shooting your mouth off over the airwaves. It's not the same.
McAfee wasn't alone among ESPN stars who fell short Monday when discussing the WNBA. Before McAfee on “First Take,” Stephen A. Smith got into a conversation with basketball analyst Monica McNutt.
Caitlin Clark has helped make the WNBA so popular. The conversation around it on ESPN Monday missed the point. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)
Smith, ESPN's $12 million-a-year man, was debating McNutt over Clark when Smith said, “Who's talking about the WNBA?” Who talks about women's sports more than “First Take?”
McNutt sounded like she was trying to be as respectful to Smith as possible, but she couldn't resist throwing down a dunk over him.
“Stephen A., respectfully, with your platform you could have done this three years ago if you wanted to,” McNutt said.
Smith looked like he'd been hit with a left hook and was forced to say, “Wow.”
For ESPN, the discussions about Clark gave the network a bridge topic from Smith's highly rated “First Take” to McAfee's program, which continues to struggle on linear TV and again lost nearly 50 percent of Smith's audience last month (501,000 to 261,000 ). , according to sources with access to the Nielsen numbers. ESPN likes to include McAfee's YouTube views in its ratings, which may have some credibility but is different from how they are officially calculated.
And McNutt was right about the history. Few people talked about the WNBA in such a substantial way on live television until the anticipation of Clark's arrival.
The Smiths and McAfees of the world want to talk about every sport on ESPN. It's the center of everyday sports, and the WNBA is now a regular topic in a way it wasn't in the past, even on the network that has invested more in women's sports on television than anyone.
McAfee apologized. It was the right thing to do. Now we'll find out if ESPN's top stars have learned anything.
(Top photo of Pat McAfee: Ron Hoskins / NBAE via Getty Images)
