{"id":1316,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/1316","headline":"Pat McAfee says he felt uneasy at Utah GameDay over mild ribbing","dek":"McAfee referenced the Charlie Kirk killing while describing discomfort over a university social media post inviting students to do impressions of him.","body":"Pat McAfee said he was \"very, very uncomfortable\" during College GameDay's stop at the University of Utah, pointing to what he described as light criticism as the cause. The show was in Salt Lake City for the second consecutive weekend, this time for the Big 12 matchup between Utah and Houston.\n\nMcAfee's issue stemmed from a video posted on university social media accounts asking students to submit their best impressions of him. He brought up the Charlie Kirk assassination while discussing his discomfort, though he did not draw a direct comparison between the two situations.\n\nThe broadcast had opened with McAfee taking off his shirt and again criticizing The New York Times over a column in The Athletic examining his influence on the show, which outlets described as typical behavior for him. The tone shifted by the end of the broadcast, when McAfee thanked fans who had camped out for the show before turning to his pick for the Utah-Houston game, and his comments about feeling uncomfortable drew attention afterward.","published_at":"2026-10-26T22:20:53.943122+00:00","source_count":3,"written_from":[{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Pat McAfee says he was 'uncomfortable' during Utah 'College GameDay,' alludes to Charlie Kirk killing","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7727393/2026/10/26/pat-mcafee-college-gameday-utah-charlie-kirk/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Pat McAfee ‘very, very uncomfortable’ at University of Utah due to light criticism, alludes to Charlie Kirk assassination","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pat-mcafee-very-very-uncomfortable-203012870.html"},{"outlet":"Awful Announcing","publisher":"Awful Announcing","title":"Pat McAfee ‘very, very uncomfortable’ at University of Utah due to light criticism, alludes to Charlie Kirk assassination","url":"https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/pat-mcafee-university-uta-criticism-students-alludes-charlie-kirk-assassination.html"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Pat McAfee recounts terrible Utah College GameDay experience with tasteless Charlie Kirk reference","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pat-mcafee-recounts-terrible-utah-212820183.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Pat McAfee says 'I hate this place' after 'College GameDay' visit to Utah","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pat-mcafee-says-hate-place-214748395.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Pat McAfee reveals every reason he hated Utah ‘College GameDay’ visit","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pat-mcafee-reveals-every-reason-220203896.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Pat McAfee doubles down on criticism of 'very, very uncomfortable' experience with Utah fans","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pat-mcafee-doubles-down-criticism-231054181.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"What’s got McAfee so fired up about the University of Utah?","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/got-mcafee-fired-university-utah-001209549.html"}],"image":{"url":"https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2026/10/26154300/GettyImages-2259982026-scaled-e1793043803658.jpg","credit":"The Athletic","width":2489},"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}