The University of Utah have released an official statement after Pat McAfee described his experience of hosting the College GameDay program on campus as the Utes faced the Houston Cougars.
Two days after the game, McAfee went on his show and revealed details of why he felt ‘uncomfortable’ during his visit to Utah.
“I’ve enjoyed this college football season, did not enjoy the University of Utah. Did not enjoy it,” McAfee said. “You know why I didn’t like it? Right before I went out there, I saw the University of Utah’s Instagram page, the university’s, they asked a kid, ‘Hey, can you do an impression of Pat McAfee? One kid goes, ‘Ah, he’s corny,’ and another kid calls me ‘creepy.’ OK, if these kids had done this on their own blogs, all good. Everybody’s taking shots at me for everything. I get it… The university puts that out as I’m about to go do an infomercial for the place?”
McAfee then also pointed out that the safety concerns in Utah as another reason he was not happy that the University posted a video with students passing hateful comments about him.
“Has anything like really scary happened at like a college gathering in the state of Utah recently? Like, do we think we should be amplifying reasons for why people hate my guts as a university?” McAfee added.
University of Utah put out statement after McAfee’s comments
The University of Utah has hosted College GameDay seven times. However, McAfee raised some serious questions about the program, which is why they had to put out an official statement.
“Our goal during the visit was to create lighthearted engagement regarding Pat being back on campus, but we missed the mark. University staff are responsible for reviewing and posting content on official social media accounts and we take full accountability for that decision.
“University officials have reached out to Pat to express appreciation and regret. We sincerely apologize for creating any perception that Pat was unsafe or unwelcome on our campus. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Pat and the entire GameDay crew are always welcome at the University of Utah, and we deeply appreciate the opportunity ESPN provides to showcase our university and community,” a statement from the University read.
McAfee was, however, very firm in his stance on not wanting to visit the University with GameDay and even had his excuse ready.
“I think I have COVID or something whenever GameDay goes back, if I’m still a part of GameDay,” said McAfee on his show. “But I did not enjoy the morning there. They do have an incredible student section, from my understanding, and they have a good football team, so I’m pretty impressed. Just didn’t like the university taking a shot at me.”
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