It’s been a noisy week at Pat McAfee‘s studio. From Aaron Rodgers‘ comment on Jimmy Kimmel to a record-setting viewership mark, the former NFL punter has seen both good and bad. However, there was one significant moment that made the show’s popularity even more epic, and it came from within ESPN.

In case anyone was wondering, the Pat McAfee Show is aired live on ESPN network on weekdays. Interestingly, days ago the host accused a top entity in the organization of sabotaging the show with wrong viewership information. But the real figures are out, and McAfee’s revenge looks quite sweet now.

Pat McAfee Show viewership tops two in-house ESPN programs

The official X handle of ESPN revealed the actual figures of the popular talk show on Friday, and it’s ‘untouchable’ in one word. The show was initially an independent one run by McAfee, but ESPN purchased it in March 2023 with a multi-year deal. It started broadcasting on the network in September last year and has only been growing since.

The show reportedly achieved 298 million total views across all platforms, a massive daily live audience of 886k, which is a 21% rise from its launch since September, and a 55.5 min average watching time. The show even achieved more views than two of ESPN’s premier NFL shows combined: The First Take (496k) hosted by Molly Qerim and GetUpESPN hosted by Mike Greenberg (379k). The Pat McAfee Show brought 1.7 million traffic in December alone.

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But his popularity has not come without controversies. And one of those happened very recently. Interestingly, McAfee felt like one of the bosses at the organization was trying to get rid of him following a particular episode with Aaron Rodgers, and some comments made during it.

McAfee blasts official for false stats apologizes for controversy

Aaron Rodgers slipped a comment saying “A lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel really hoping it doesn’t come out” in a recent episode of the show talking about the infamous Epstein list. Despite its context, things took a wrong turn when the comedian couldn’t find the comedy in Rodgers’ statement, and threatened him with a court sighting.

There was uncertainty following the incident, but it turned ugly when an “enemy within our own camp” tried to sabotage Pat’s show with false numbers ahead of the December ratings release, according to McAfee. “There are some people actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN”, McAfee said. “More specifically, Norby Williamson is the guy who is attempting to sabotage our program“, he didn’t hold back from revealing the name.

Whatever the reason might be behind McAfee’s accusations, he apologized for landing in controversy regarding the Kimmel incident. “We obviously don’t like the fact that we are associated with anything negative, ever”, McAfee cleared his view on Wednesday’s episode. “So we apologize for being a part of it. Can’t wait to hear what Aaron has to say about it”, he further tried to cool down the situation.

On the business side of things, the Pat McAfee Show is doing better than ever. It would definitely be a loss for ESPN if they were trying to get rid of it.

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