ESPN Facing Backlash During Pat McAfee, LeBron James Interview

LeBron James’ interview with Pat McAfee captured the attention of the sports world on Wednesday afternoon. Unfortunately for ESPN, it resulted in a flood of backlash from television viewers during the interview with the NBA icon.

Due to his recent public feud with ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith, fans could not wait to see what the Los Angeles Lakers star would say when paired up with the unfiltered McAfee.

James did in fact address the “First Take” host — along with a number of other topics — but there was one major issue. People who tuned in on ESPN could not actually hear the full audio.

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (left) and Pat McAfee (right).Christopher Hanewinckel, Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

McAfee, 37, produces his hit show and licenses it to ESPN on a reported five-year, $85 million contract, allowing him creative liberties that other shows produced by the network do not.

For example, his interview with James aired unedited on YouTube, ESPN+ and TikTok Live. In contrast, to comply with FCC television regulations, ESPN had to mute large sections of the audio on the cable channel around instances when James and McAfee cursed.

Those who tuned in on cable focused their ire on ESPN for ruining the interview with the conservative censorship decision and sloppy execution of the mute button.

“Hey @espn it don’t make sense to air the Lebron – Mcafee interview and you keep muting out the good parts,” said a frustrated fan on X.

“This LeBron interview on @PatMcAfeeShow is really good but watching on ESPN and they’re dumping too many curse words,” another X user said. “Dying to know what he just said about Brian Windhorst.”

“I can’t believe ESPN decided to jump in on the tape over the mouth trend for this LeBron interview on @PatMcAfeeShow,” complained a post.

“Why broadcast the LeBron interview on ESPN when you’re going to blur out what LeBron says every 15 seconds,” echoed another critic.

Regardless, the interview was a major coup for ESPN. James’ beef with Smith over his son, Bronny James, only brought more attention to the network. The McAfee interview was the perfect appetizer before the Lakers’ Wednesday night contest against the Indiana Pacers on ESPN.

Even though the audio issues sent a few viewers to other platforms, it also proved they were hanging on every word from the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

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ESPN Facing Backlash During Pat McAfee, LeBron James Interview

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