Pat McAfee has slammed the ESPYS for shortlisting Prince Harry among its nominees for ‘the Pat Tilman Award for Service,’ as he also bemoaned that Americans weren’t considered in the selection process.
Discussing the chatter on the Duke of Sussex being tipped for the prestigious prize, which is given to a ‘person with a strong connection to sports who has served others in a way that echoes the legacy of the former NFL player and US Army Ranger,’ the ESPN analyst wasn’t afraid to lay into the event’s committee on the network, Friday.
‘A lot of conversation about Pat Tillman’s name. American hero… Now there’s an award named after him, as there should be in the sports world because that is somebody who is the definition of selfless,’ McAfee said at first.
‘It’s going to Prince Harry, who I don’t even think is a prince anymore… He said don’t call me that,’ McAfee then quipped in a subtle dig at King Charles‘ estranged son, later adding: ‘See, why does the ESPYS do this sh*t?’
After ‘Boston Connor’ – a member of the cast on the Pat McAfee Show – described Prince Harry’s nomination for the award as ‘probably the most embarrassing thing I’ve seen in my entire life,’ McAfee questioned whether the ESPY Awards’ committee even did its homework on its candidate search in the first place.
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According to information found online, award winners are only chosen ‘exclusively through global online fan balloting conducted from amongst candidates selected by the ESPY Select Nominating Committee.’
‘When you do something like this, you know the immediate reaction from humans and sports fans and like people with common sense and brains is going to be like ”Hey, don’t be putting our f***ing guy with that guy,’ McAfee said before sharing his perception of Prince Harry, who founded The Invictus Games and served in the British Army.
‘I don’t know anything about him except for the South Park episode and what I’ve learned from the Crown.
‘But like did his people know like ”you publicly put me up for this award. You’re just asking basically every person that considers themselves American and saying ”this is bulls***”’. Especially at a sports award type of thing… I assume he knew that. They didn’t expect that?’
McAfee then brought up the 2023 ESPYS, when he gave an opening monologue on the awards show, and said ‘the people who run the ESPYs… they weren’t necessarily thrilled about any of that,’ referring to Prince Harry’s nomination for the Pat Tillman Award.
‘We should celebrate sports,’ the former Colts punter added. ‘The worldwide leaders should celebrate sport but doing something like this is obviously trying to piss people off. And it’s like there’s been numerous decisions of this type of thing over the last what? Decade?
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The Pat Tilman Award is usually given to a ‘person with a strong connection to sports who has served others in a way that echoes the legacy of the former NFL player and US Army Ranger.’
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Prince Harry founded the Invictus Games – a worldwide multi-sport event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans – and served in the British Army
‘And I think it’s just one person being put in charge of this entire thing. It’s like, c’mon bro…’
A second member of McAfee’s cast on-air – Ty Schmitt- also added fuel to the fire on Friday, calling the ESPYS Awards ‘a gimmick.’
‘It’s like you couldn’t find an active US military member or someone who can’t serve anymore because of something they did while serving, Schmitt further said.
‘There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of people who they could have found who could have benefitted from this award. But instead let’s give it to Prince Harry…’
Replying to his buddy’s point McAfee suggested to just ‘make up’ an award for Prince Harry.
‘How about it’s like ESPY for royal family member who doesn’t want to be called ”royal family member” who loves sports,’ he said.
