Pat McAfee launched a furious on-air attack against some of his ESPN bosses on Friday, suggesting a ‘rat’ within the network is trying to ‘sabotage’ his show.
The fiery host, who is reportedly paid more than $17million a year by ESPN, railed against ‘the enemy within our own camp’.
He even singled out experienced exec Norby Williamson, who has spent nearly four decades at the organization. McAfee accused the ‘Executive Editor & Head of Event and Studio Production’ of leaking information and trying to bring down the show.
His comments come after reports this week claimed the show is failing to hang on to viewers who tune into ‘First Take’ earlier in the day. And that the show’s numbers are down on SportsCenter’s when it occupied the same slot last year.
This week, McAfee has been at the center of controversy after Aaron Rodgers hinted in his weekly interview that Jimmy Kimmel could be on the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s associates.
Pat McAfee launched a furious on-air attack against some of his ESPN bosses on Friday
On Friday’s show, McAfee said: ‘We understand that more people are watching this show than ever before. We’re very thankful for the ESPN folks for being very hospitable.
‘Now there are some people actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN. More specifically I believe Norby Williamson is the guy attempting to sabotage our program.’
The former punter admitted he lacked concrete proof to back up his accusation.
‘I’m not 100 per cent sure – that’s just seemingly the only human that has information, and then somehow that information gets leaked and it’s wrong and then it sets a narrative of what our show is,’ he continued.
‘Are we just going to combat that from a rat every single time? I don’t know. But somebody tried to get ahead of our actual ratings release with wrong numbers 12 hours beforehand.
McAfee singled out experienced exec Norby Williamson, accusing him of leaking information
The show caused controversy earlier this week following comments by Aaron Rodgers (center)
‘That’s a sabotage attempt, and it’s been happening basically this entire season from some people who didn’t necessarily love the old addition of the Pat McAfee Show to the ESPN family.’
The host suggested there are ‘a lot’ of people within the organization who are trying to ‘tear’ him down.
‘We’ve heard them anonymously quoted in the (media)… it’s always little things to try and tear us down,’ he said.
‘I don’t like that guy (Williamson), he left me in his office for 45 minutes – no showed me – in 2018 so this guy has had zero respect for me and in return same thing back to him for a long time.’
McAfee added: ‘Even with that taking place, we’re still growing somehow.’
DailyMail.com has contacted ESPN and Williamson for comment.