{"id":291590,"date":"2025-11-14T18:06:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/291590\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T18:06:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:06:05","slug":"trump-interview-proves-pat-mcafee-has-full-control-at-espn-sage-steele","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/291590\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump interview proves Pat McAfee has ‘full control’ at ESPN: Sage Steele"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former ESPN broadcaster Sage Steele said it\u2019s hysterical that Pat McAfee has \u201cno rules\u201d at ESPN. <\/p>\n

During a Wednesday appearance on Jason Whitlock\u2019s \u201cFearless\u201d podcast<\/a>, Steele explained why the host is in \u201cfull control\u201d at the Worldwide Leader while discussing his viral interview with President Donald Trump on Veteran\u2019s Day on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Pat McAfee,\u201d Steele said when Whitlock asked if it would be \u201charder or maybe impossible\u201d for the former All-Pro punter to do the Trump interview if he worked out of ESPN\u2019s Bristol, Conn. headquarters.<\/p>\n

Sage Steele speaks on Pat McAfee\u2019s \u201ccontrol\u201d at ESPN during an appearance on Jason Whitlock\u2019s \u201cFearless\u201d podcast on November 12, 2025. YouTube<\/p>\n

\u201c[He] dropped the name Norby Williamson [a now-former ESPN executive] and called him a rat, and then doubled down and did it again on his show on ESPN and was not punished,\u201d Steele said of the January 2024 episode of \u201cThe Pat McAfee Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

McAfee accused the exec of trying to \u201csabotage\u201d his show.<\/p>\n

Pat McAfee of \u201cCollege GameDay\u201d smiles before a game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Mississippi Rebels at Sanford Stadium on October 18, 2025 in Athens, Georgia. ISI Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Williamson left the network a few months later.<\/p>\n

\u201c[McAfee] actually had Burke Magnus, Norby\u2019s replacement, come and do a selfie with him on the field\u2026 there were no repercussions,\u201d Steele said.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 For that to happen and there be no \u2014 whether everybody agrees or not \u2014 when you rip an executive, name-drop and call him names and nothing happens, you know that you have full control\u2026 Can you imagine them telling him \u2018no\u2019? That\u2019s not happening. It\u2019s impossible and Pat knows that.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 That man has no rules. And I think it\u2019s hysterical because I\u2019m picturing being a fly on the wall watching the executives meltdown as this interview happened yesterday. But they could not tell him no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pat McAfee of \u201cCollege Game Day\u201d picks Tennessee to win before a game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on September 13, 2025 in Knoxville, Tennessee. ISI Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Steele left ESPN in August 2023 after both sides settled\u00a0a lawsuit she filed\u00a0<\/a>following her being removed from the air in October 2021 for comments she made about the company\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine policy.<\/p>\n

The former \u201cSportsCenter\u201d anchor\u00a0also noted that McAfee openly discussing Disney\u2019s ongoing negotiations with YouTube TV\u00a0is another example of his control at ESPN.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that the \u201cCollege GameDay\u201d host says just about anything he wants on his titular show, which is licensed by the network.<\/p>\n

McAfee has made plenty of headlines over his bold language, controversial topics and unapologetic demeanor on his show. <\/p>\n

McAfee is two years into a five-year deal with ESPN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former ESPN broadcaster Sage Steele said it\u2019s hysterical that Pat McAfee has \u201cno rules\u201d at ESPN. During a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[352,349,3145,58791,99,1625,3015],"class_list":["post-291590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-espn","tag-nfl","tag-pat-mcafee","tag-sage-steele","tag-sports","tag-sports-entertainment","tag-sports-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}