Pat McAfee is facing criticism for a tweet he sent out — and then doubled down on — Sunday.
The sports commentator was replying to a tweet by Evan Fox, who is on “The Pat McAfee Show,” about alternate football jerseys for Michigan State.
Clearly finding the uniforms ugly, McAfee responded by trying to joke that disgraced former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State doctor Larry Nassar designed them.
Nassar was sentenced to 40-175 years for a number of sexual assault — in addition to a separate sentence on child pornography charges — stemming from his time working at Michigan State and USA Gymnastics.
For more than two decades, Nassar used his position to sexually abuse athletes, including college and Olympic gymnastics stars.
The heinous nature of the crimes made McAfee’s tweet a tough one for people to find humor in.
“I think [Larry] Nassar was in on the design team actually,” McAfee wrote in the tweet that remains posted.
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Nassar had been in the news recently after he was attacked in federal prison by another inmate.
McAfee seemed to double down on the social media quip when he responded to another user suggesting he delete the tweet with a GIF of Stephen A. Smith saying “For what?”
That didn’t dissuade people from voicing their displeasure.
“Just insane that this tweet hasn’t been deleted yet,” another wrote.
“ESPN fired people to clear money for this guy,” someone else tweeted.
McAfee signed a five-year, $85 million contract in May to take his show to ESPN.
Several weeks later, ESPN began layoffs, prompting criticism for the amount they were paying McAfee only to layoff other employees.
