Pat McAfee didn't have a great time when it came to his recent ESPN College GameDay visit to Utah, one that ended with him declaring to a vociferous crowd, "I'll never see you again, hopefully."
It's now ballooned into something bigger, with both ESPN and the University of Utah making statements about McAfee's visit. And McAfee himself has spoken about why all of that came to be, thanks to a video released on social media ahead of him coming to campus.
Wondering what the heck happened here? We've got you covered. Let's explain how this all led to all the statements and backlash and such:
“I’ll never see you again, hopefully”😂😂 🙌🏻🙌🏻 🤙🏻 🤙🏻 pic.twitter.com/NFTm8R44nl
— Brandon (@TealCoug) October 24, 2026
The Pat McAfee conflict with Utah students began with a now-deleted video
This is the video the University of Utah posted on Instagram that people
claim turned Pat McAfee against Utah. They’re calling him a creep for taking his shirt off… (when the entire crowd was chanting for him to do it???) https://t.co/4oSNDLbRJO pic.twitter.com/rvs9FWz2TD
— Bill (@Billgetzfroggy) October 24, 2026
The video asked for students to give their best McAfee impression, with one declaring, "I'd say Pat McAfee is gonna say a corny line." Another called him out for ripping his shirt off.
Pat McAfee called out the deleted Utah video
🚨 Pat McAfee GOES OFF on the University of Utah 😳
— Bill (@Billgetzfroggy) October 26, 2026
He says he’s never felt so uncomfortable, even bringing up what happened at UVU last year.
“I did not enjoy the University of Utah.”
HOLY SMOKES 💀 pic.twitter.com/YCXQPM3vEH
McAfee went on to make reference to the 2025 shooting death of Charlie Kirk who was killed in the state.
Both ESPN and Utah issued statements about the video
I asked ESPN and Utah for comment about McAfee and the relationship with Utah moving forward.
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) October 27, 2026
This was ESPN's response. https://t.co/WP1JGebM08 pic.twitter.com/j1ZaVx6b5c
The University of Utah has released a statement in relation to Pat McAfee’s comments today: pic.twitter.com/MhU81IRaC9
— Josh Furlong (@Josh_Furlong) October 27, 2026
Social media reacted to McAfee's response and the statements released
They didn’t miss the mark. No apology is needed. Watch the video. This is insanity. https://t.co/60VdLxUaIj
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) October 27, 2026
This is a pathetic response from Utah imo
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) October 27, 2026
They didn’t do anything wrong. https://t.co/kC19klRhPu
Truly never fails that the people who spend the most time railing against "snowflakes," "participation trophies," etc. always end up being the ones most in need of safe spaces, useless ribbons, etc. https://t.co/msakwHnN2f
— Patrick Daugherty (@RotoPat) October 27, 2026
Utah did nothing wrong. This is crazy. Pat McAfee got upset because some college kids cracked some jokes about him. Pat’s way too talented to be taking the path he did on this whole thing. https://t.co/6dHPOo8YFK
— Alex Gold (@AlexGold) October 27, 2026
What a wild turn of events.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: The Pat McAfee and Utah fan kerfuffle over 'corny' comments, explained
