ESPN personality Pat McAfee recently sounded off on the controversial opening ceremony to the 2024 Paris Olympics, which sparked a global backlash.  McAfee didn’t take a particularly strong stance on the content of what was displayed during the ceremony. Still, he emphasized that the Olympics should be primarily focused on sports instead of a political or social agenda.

The former professional football player kicked off the topic on Monday’s broadcast, “There’s a lot of people saying they’re not gonna watch the Olympics because of the opening ceremony.  Now, I learned a lot about a man named Thomas Jolly over the weekend. I think we all did, and the one thing that I did not read or see is that he cares at all about sports. So I think that’s the biggest thing. We need people that love sports being a part of sports happenings.”

Without necessarily offering his personal opinion on the controversy, McAfee acknowledged that the display orchestrated by the artistic director of the Paris Olympics, Thomas Jolly, was deeply offensive to many viewers around the world.  Furthermore, the host seemed to suggest that he doesn’t understand why the performance was chosen to kick off the Olympics.

He continued, “But there’s a lot of people that are saying, hey, what Thomas Jolly put together was incredibly disrespectful. And I think that is certainly a way to view things, that is a way to take it, and there is a lot of people have said that, and for good reason, and I have no idea how any of these things are the start of the Olympics, or to announce that the Olympics are taking place. It was a form of artistic expression that was paying trib.. whatever.”

Later in his monologue, McAfee emphasized the entire point of the Olympic games: sports.  He maintained that the international competition should focus primarily on the events and athletes while refraining from deviating to unrelated topics.  “We just want it to revolve around sport,” he said, “and we can’t have the opening ceremony be a reason why people won’t watch these athletes who have sacrificed everything about their lives to be great at something and only get to experience and celebrate once every four years,” he went on.

The former professional kicker said that he hopes the Olympics learned from their mistake of generating unnecessary controversy this year.  “So I hope the next time around, we go ahead and think about that, how sports are a hat, uh huh, and we can’t have things that aren’t a part of it. Be the reason why people won’t watch it, because when you watch it, it’s magic,” he said.

“So I love the Olympic time. Don’t love all the drama that was certainly self-created by the Olympics or whatever. but I love that we’re getting to watch the greats. Be great at sports. We know nothing about. We can be obnoxious ignorant and arrogant about it, and that is how we will continue through the rest of these games,” McAfee continued, emphasizing how enjoyable the event can be.

Watch McAfee’s commentary below:

https://x.com/awfulannouncing/status/1817960763065290864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1817960763065290864%7Ctwgr%5Ecf59bfd01b0cf979e2a152110f5677207b2f9f90%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Fsports%2F2024%2F07%2F29%2Fpat-mcafee-blasts-olympics-over-controversial-opening-ceremony-we-just-want-it-to-revolve-around-sport%2F

Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.