Former ESPN Host (And Current Political Hack?), Keith Olbermann, Calls For The Network To Part Ways With Pat McAfee: “Today Is The Day… Fire Him”

Did Pat McAfee finally go too far?

If you ask former ESPN host, and longtime doofus, Keith Olbermann, the answer would be yes. In his latest unhinged X rant, (seems to be all he does these days) he recently called for Pat McAfee to lose his job over his recent comments about the country of Canada. Specifically, during the WWE Elimination Chamber event in Toronto this past weekend, Canadians booed the national anthem prior to the “wrasling.” Pat McAfee didn’t like that, and called the country of Canada “terrible” before the WWE event officially got underway:

The rivalry between the United States and Canada has never been more intense. That’s because, for the most part, the two neighboring countries have generally been… neighborly. But now that President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau aren’t seeing eye-to-eye on tariffs, America and Canada are experiencing some tension.

That’s been most apparent during professional sporting events that feature teams from both countries. Citizens from Canada have started booing the U.S. national anthem, and vice versa. It all seemingly got started at an NHL game last month (after President Trump initially announced the tariffs), and it’s continued into March.

As you can see here:

These are the MOST STACKED Elimination Chambers that the WWE has EVER had..

THEY BOOED OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM TO START THIS ENTIRE THING..

BUT IT'S GONNA BE A HISTORIC NIGHT #WWEChamber pic.twitter.com/jy8cAYHftd

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 2, 2025

Seems to me like Pat McAfee was just in “wrestling personality mode,” but that comment evidently angered the people up north.

There was apparently so much noise around it that Pat felt the need to address the backlash during The Pat McAfee Show. The sports personality took a moment out of his show to directly speak to Canada and defend himself for calling their country terrible. Here’s how he started things off:

“Now, Canada. Listen. There’s been some things said to me from Canadians that I guess I respect, because of the passion that you have for your country, which I hope you understand that I was showing the same for mine. 

During the national anthem, obviously the Rogers Centre, overwhelming boo. I mean, very loud boo. First reaction whenever the national anthem starts up there was for some of these Canadians just to start booing and I’m like, ‘What?’ Okay. My entire life, my first reaction when somebody boos the national anthem is, f**k you.”

The outspoken sports media personality then went on to say that he didn’t care to get into the weeds with all of the political back-and-forth between the two countries:

“I understand there’s political differences at the current moment between us and Canada. But I feel like any time I think of Canada, I don’t think of what Justin Trudeau does. I don’t think immediately of Justin Trudeau’s decisions. I don’t think immediately of what Canada is doing in the political sphere.

I think of the people of Canada. I understand, now, from the Canadians, that they have a lot more passion for their country than I could have ever imagined. A lot of terrible things have been said about me, and I understand it. You boo my country, I called your country terrible, let’s shake hands.”

You can hear Pat McAfee’s full statement on his ongoing feud with Canada in the video below:

I'm very proud and thankful that I'm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States of America..

Canadians have a lot of passion for their country and I understand it..

You booed our country and I said you're terrible..

Let's shake hands and move along #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/pG4mvl9jVi

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 3, 2025

It appears that Pat McAfee thought ending that all with, “Let’s shake hands” would effectively end the controversy and uproar. And for the most part, I’d say that it did. However, there’s one person that’s not ready to move on so fast, and that’s former ESPN host Keith Olbermann.

The sports journalist has had multiple stints with ESPN throughout his career, which as of late has transitioned into more obnoxious political commentary. He hosted ESPN’s SportsCenter from 1992 to 1997, and returned to the network to do the same (and did a little baseball play-by-play) from 2017 to 2020. After he resigned from the “Worldwide Leader In Sports,” his focused turned to a podcast called the Countdown with Keith Olbermann, where he mainly does political analysis… if you could really call it analysis. It’s more like “old cat lady complaining,” than it is… analysis.

And after the news broke that McAfee had called Canada a “terrible country,” Olbermann decided to take to social media to share his stance on Pat. To make a long story short, Keith Olbermann apparently hates Pat McAfee, and even revealed that he and others at the network tried to dissuade ESPN from partnering and/or associating with him… and also called for his firing:

“A lot of us tried to warn the new ESPN management that the day would come when this idiot would draw them into a permanent political controversy and they could either be subsumed by it, or fire him. That day is today. Fire him.”

A lot of us tried to warn the new espn management that the day would come when this idiot would draw them into a permanent political controversy and they could either be subsumed by it, or fire him

That day is today. Fire him. https://t.co/DK2pEE6FNE

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 3, 2025

Pretty strong words from Keith Olbermann, but that’s the norm for him as of late.

Just today, the former ESPN host took it upon himself to apologize to Canada on behalf of the entire United States. To be exact, Olbermann initiated the apology because that’s how the “real people” of America feel.

Yes, Keith Olbermann is so self-absorbed and delusional that he thinks he speaks for the “real people” of the United States…

Since this is apparently my function now:

I'd like to apologize to the people of Canada on behalf of the real people of the United States.

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 4, 2025

Didn’t see the rivalry between Olbermann and McAfee burning this passionately, but something tells me that ESPN is going to stick with the host of The Pat McAfee Show… you know, seeing as how he is an absolute superstar personality and Olbermann is, well… a complete hack.