ESPN told to fire ‘idiot’ Pat McAfee by legendary announcer after branding Canada ‘a terrible country’
Legendary American sports commentator Keith Olbermann has told ESPN to fire Pat McAfee for calling Canada ‘a terrible country’ at a WWE event in Toronto over the weekend.
McAfee hit out after Canadians booed The Star-Spangled Banner at WWE’s Elimination Chambers event in Toronto on Saturday night, with political tensions rising between the neighbors amid Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on the country.
McAfee apologized on his ESPN show on Monday but in the eyes of Olbermann, it isn’t enough.
Referencing ESPN’s move to hire McAfee on an $85million, five-year deal in 2023, Olbermann wrote on X: ‘A lot of us tried to warn the new espn management that the day would come when this idiot would draw them into a permanent political controversy and they could either be subsumed by it, or fire him.
‘That day is today. Fire him.’
There is no suggestion that ESPN are considering firing McAfee. While his bold, sometimes brash, personality isn’t to everyone’s taste, it was only last week that he broke the news that Travis Kelce is not going to retire and plans to play on for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Keith Olbermann has told ESPN to fire Pat McAfee for calling Canada ‘a terrible country’
Olbermann took to social media after McAfee apologized on his show on Monday afternoon
Reflecting on the weekend’s events, McAfee said Monday: ‘There’s been some things said to me from Canadians that I guess I respect, because of the passion that you have for your country, which I hope you understand that I was showing the same for mine.
‘You booed my country. Now, I heard from a lot of Canadians. During the national anthem, obviously the Rogers Centre, overwhelming boo. I mean, very loud boo.
‘The first reaction whenever the national anthem starts up there was for some of these Canadians just to start booing. My entire life, my first reaction when somebody boos the national anthem is, f*** you.’
McAfee continued: ‘A lot of Canadians have told me, “Why don’t you do a little investigating on why we’re booing? Did you hear what your president said?”
‘Listen, I understand there’s political differences at the current moment between us and Canada. But I feel like any time I think of Canada, I don’t think of what Justin Trudeau does. I don’t think immediately of what Canada is doing in the political sphere. I think of the people of Canada.’
At the time of the booing, McAfee said: ‘These are the most stacked Elimination Chambers that the WWE has ever had. Kinda sucks that it’s in the terrible country of Canada that booed our national anthem to start this entire thing!
On Monday, McAfee added: ‘I understand now from the Canadians that they have a lot more passion for their country than I could have ever imagined. A lot of terrible things have been said about me and I understand it.
‘You booed my country, I called your country terrible… let’s shake hands.’
Trump’s tariffs are scheduled to kick in on Tuesday, with the President also underlining his desire to make Canada the 51st state of the United States.
The rising political tensions between the longtime allies was at the center of the heated rivalry that played out at last month’s 4 Nations Face-Off international hockey tournament.
‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was booed by Canadian fans when it was performed in Montreal, where the USA and Canada faced off during the round robin phase of the tournament – a game which saw three fights break out within nine seconds.
And the Americans didn’t hesitate to respond in kind, drowning out ‘O Canada’ when the two teams locked horns once again in Boston for the highly-anticipated final between the US and Canada.
It was the Canadians who had the last laugh, nevertheless, after emerging from TD Garden with a 3-2 overtime win and the 4 Nations trophy.
Following the triumph, outgoing Canadian PM Trudeau posted on X: ‘You can’t take our country – and you can’t take our game.’
