Pat McAfee shows up on ESPN six days a week. Somehow, he still finds time to scroll through everyone talking trash about him online.
His salary reportedly sits around $60 million. That apparently isn’t enough to keep him from getting worked up over social media trolls – McAfee recently posted a lengthy tweet venting about the criticism he receives online.
The whole thing started with a parody account, @ShaneTuttleNCAA – whose bio literally states “Everything I do is satire” – posting a fake claim that McAfee picked Donald Trump to win the Texas vs. Tennessee game during a College GameDay segment.
Strange: Pat McAfee picks President Donald Trump to win the Texas vs. Tennessee matchup on College GameDay. 🤔
“I only root for one team, and that team is TEAM USA.” pic.twitter.com/PueS0fHw6A
— Shane Tuttle (@ShaneTuttleNCAA) September 26, 2026
McAfee wasn’t having it. He labeled the post “misinformation” and pushed for X to slap a community note on it — which, eventually, happened.
Woke up this morning.. folks were really coming after me for being a really big piece of shit who has ruined everything.
“Man.. that’s the 1st host game pick I’ve gotten wrong this season.. both CGD & MNCD.. folks are really pissed off about it.” I immediately thought..
Then, I keep scrolling &.. just some awesome internet happening lately..
Last week it was @JonnyRoot_ completely lying about what I said and dropping me into something with potential real life repercussions
This week.. @ShaneTuttleNCAA does some of it’s finest internetting…
The good news is, all of these folks that were very excited to believe this DEFINITELY got a follow up about this being fake right? I know this is a scrolling app.. once you see something we all just continue on our scrolling journeys.. if it gets Community Noted much later on, is @X forcing it back into folks feeds? I’m sure they all know it’s not real. The community note probably cleared it all up for the 1,000,000+ folks that saw this.
Let’s check in and see some of the quote tweets…
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 27, 2026
This isn’t an isolated incident, either. The former Indianapolis Colts punter recently went after another account for tweeting that he’d been “kirked” during his show.
It’s a strange look for someone in his position.
McAfee is, by most accounts, the highest-paid personality in sports media. He’s branched out into acting, music, all sorts of side ventures beyond the ESPN desk. Yet phrases like “the lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinion of the sheep” don’t seem to have made it into his daily routine – he’s still getting worked up by anonymous accounts with a handful of followers.
There’s also a simpler point here: he’s closing in on 40 years old. He could just log off.
Fans Aren’t Buying It
The replies to his original tweet weren’t kind. One of the top comments summed up the sentiment:
“Jfc dude. You talk so much s— and then whine about some dudes saying you suck? I get being upset with the Kirk tweet. But the others are just dudes saying you suck and ruin the morning show. Becoming insufferable.”
imagine being 40 years old making $65 million a year to kill sports journalism and you still spend all your time crying on social media cuz you feel bullied
unbelievably pathetic behavior lmfao
— Dre Guevara (@DreGuevara3) September 27, 2026
Others pointed out a bit of irony in McAfee crusading against misinformation, given his own show’s history.
Its ironic that McAfee is mad about people spreading misinformation as he gears up for Aaron Rodgers Tuesday
— Tony Squares (@TonySquaresNFL) September 28, 2026
