ESPN's Pat McAfee gets death threats over Trump comments. There's just one problem — he didn't say them.



Over the weekend, ESPN got to see exactly how things would play out if it aired completely partisan right-wing commentary.

Unfortunately, host Pat McAfee was the unwilling victim of an experiment that came out of a viral online post.

'What a f**king sellout.'

Saturday's game between the University of Tennessee Volunteers and the Texas Longhorns got a ton of fanfare. Whether it was McAfee doling out $1 million to a college student, "Jackass" star Johnny Knoxville trying to hand a referee $20, or the sitting president attending the game, the stakes were high between the two powerhouse schools.

About an hour before kickoff though, a post attributing a quote to McAfee made the rounds, resulting in the former NFL punter getting death threats.

"Pat McAfee picks President Donald Trump to win the Texas vs. Tennessee matchup on College GameDay," a post from X account @ShaneTuttleNCAA read.

"I only root for one team, and that team is TEAM USA," the post claimed McAfee said. Attached was a photo of McAfee with President Trump as his prediction for the winner of the game.

Although the picture was altered and the X account labels itself as "satire," plenty of viewers took the post seriously and went on a rampage against the ESPN host.

"What a f**king sellout," one reader said.

"Nobody likes ESPN commentators sharing political opinions," another wrote.

On Sunday, McAfee revealed screenshots of more alleged egregious responses:

"Yea he really does need to get kirked," one user apparently wrote in response, likely referring to the assassination of political commentator Charlie Kirk.

That account has seemingly been deleted.

Another X user apparently called McAfee a "worthless piece of s**t," prompting the host to wonder if enough people had seen that the original fabricated post had been hit with a community note from X.

RELATED: Peyton Manning's nephew learns what the liberal media is all about — and it may change him forever

Woke up this morning.. folks were really coming after me for being a really big piece of shit who has ruined everything.

“Man.. that’s the 1st host game pick I’ve gotten wrong this season.. both CGD & MNCD.. folks are really pissed off about it.” I immediately thought..

Then, I… pic.twitter.com/P4huiCkeFc
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 27, 2026

"All of these folks that were very excited to believe this DEFINITELY got a follow up about this being fake right?" McAfee asked openly.

"If it gets Community Noted much later on, is X forcing it back into folks [sic] feeds?" he continued. "I'm sure they all know it's not real. The community note probably cleared it all up for the 1,000,000+ folks that saw this," McAfee added.

X does notify users of a community note being added to a post if a user interacts with it by commenting, liking, or sharing, but not if a user simply sees it.

McAfee also called out the user who posted the image by name, while also singling out OutKick writer Jon Root for an article written the week prior.

McAfee said Root was "completely lying" about what he said, thereby "dropping" McAfee "into something with potential real life repercussions."

The article in question cited McAfee's comments during a military flyover, where he said, "We certainly appreciate the hell out of the American military. And if you're not the United States of America and you hear that sound, your ass better run."

According to OutKick, a previous version of the story "indicated Pat McAfee may have been referring to illegal immigration but in fact he seems to be referring to America’s military against its enemies."

RELATED: Pat McAfee refused to fold, and ESPN paid up. There's a lesson there for young men.

To his credit, Root chimed in on McAfee's post and condemned any threats made against the former NFL player and apologized.

"I apologize for taking that statement last week about the National Guard as a illegal immigration joke. I corrected it in the thread soon after posting, but probably should have just deleted it," Root wrote.

As for McAfee, he attempted to make light of the disturbing comments made about him. "That's fun," he wrote. "That's the good stuff."

McAfee concluded, "And if I do get 'kirked,' please know that I love my kin and I love ball. Now ... Let's have a phenomenal NFL Sunday."

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Peyton Manning's nephew learns what the liberal media is all about — and it may change him forever



Star quarterback for the University of Texas Longhorns, Arch Manning, describing a video as "hilarious" was enough to change his public perception in the liberal media forever.

For his reaction, Manning seemingly became public enemy No. 1 and was immediately accused of supporting violence against women.

'Obviously f**k Arch Manning.'

The outrage came after Manning laughed at an AI video that showed his coach, Steve Sarkisian, slapping ESPN reporter Holly Rowe after a game.

The video was just six seconds. Manning's reaction lasted slightly longer when he asked media members if they had seen it.

"Him slapping Holly Rowe. Yeah, it's hilarious," Manning said. The entire room laughed along, but the laughter was short-lived.

From that point on, the air around Manning completely changed as the sports world seemed to turn on him.

"Obviously f**k Arch Manning," wrote Katy Duffy, senior producer at the Athletic. Duffy also called it "disgusting" that another reporter had asked Manning the question and shared his answer.

ESPN host Shae Cornette said Manning was "insensitive" and "immature" before adding, "Quite frankly, how dare he say that?"

MS NOW sports columnist Jason Page claimed Manning was showing people "who he really is."

Manning followed protocol and ignored the insults, apologized, and called his own comments "insensitive."

He even contacted Rowe, who accepted his apology. But the next time Manning spoke to the media, fans immediately noticed he was different.

Manning took less than a minute to answer almost 20 questions, barely smiled, and deadpanned most of his answers with the typical non-responses fans are used to hearing from athletes.

The 22-year-old's spark was gone.

Comparing press conferences before and after the ordeal, one college football page said the media fiasco had "just nuked Arch Manning's personality."

Others made similar observations.

RELATED: MAGA-haters say 'Trump curse' hit Jaxson Dart with reportedly season-ending injury

"This is what bogus media criticism creates, what incentive do athletes have to be honest? Zero," Clay Travis remarked.

Popular page ML Football screamed in all caps, "THIS IS AWFUL," in reaction to Manning's new, subdued nature.

Eli Manning, Arch's uncle, spoke with Front Office Sports and, perhaps shockingly, summarized what most seemed to be thinking: Treating the media as friends will come back to haunt you.

"You feel like they're your pal. You relax with them a little bit. You try to be funny, and then they can take it and run," Uncle Eli told host Baker Machado.

The former New York Giant advised his nephew to be careful and find moments where "you can be funny."

Eli's wisdom concluded with saying his nephew will figure things out and eventually "learn and deal with it."

RELATED: Chiefs head coach credits Taylor Swift for keeping Travis Kelce's energy levels up — in an unexpected way

Redemption for Manning — which his uncle said will include "growing pains" — may be in lessons learned, but the backlash to some of his detractors may fill in the gaps of his newfound silence.

For example, the Post Millennial reported that Minnesota TV anchor Jana Shortal said that the entire room needed to apologize, along with Manning, for laughing at what she described as a violent depiction. After calling the whole situation a "huge issue," Shortal was taken off the air a few days later.

"Karma came fast," commentator Brandon Tatum wrote on X.

As well, former NFL wide receiver T.J. Moe replied to Rowe and told her that Manning had no reason to apologize to her and did nothing wrong.

"The proper response here would've been 'No need to apologize, Arch. You did nothing wrong.'"

At the same time, fans noted that the Atlantic's Katy Duffy, a harsh critic of Manning, had herself joked that an NFL player should be slapped "again," but in real life. Interestingly, Duffy replied by saying the post reminded her "how funny" she is.

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ESPN reporter asks Alex Ovechkin if he would 'support the genocide' of Ukraine — Ovechkin doesn't budge



An interview to mark the start of the NHL season went off the rails when an activist reporter hammered one of the league's greatest players of all time with political questions.

Almost two weeks before the games start to count, Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin was talking to the media when an ESPN reporter started pelting him with question regarding a recent political ad he had been a part of.

She's 'got an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for abducting Ukrainian children.'

Ovechkin, the NHL's all-time goal-scoring leader — yes, he has scored even more goals than Wayne Gretzky — was featured in a pro-Russia ad for President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party in the lead-up to the elections last weekend.

Although Ovechkin simply stood in the background during the ad, ESPN reporter Robert Klemko — who is half-Ukrainian — went after the hockey player about the details of the filming, asking if he informed his team before the video shoot.

"No," Ovechkin replied, per Klemko's recollection of the interview.

The reporter then told Ovechkin his appearance in the commercial "feels to people like a pro war stance."

"I don't think it's a pro war," Ovechkin reportedly replied. "I think it's just support what's happening in Russia. I want the peace and love for everybody. It doesn't matter who you are, American, Russian, or Ukrainian."

After Klemko claimed the war would "be done soon" if Putin stops the invasion, he later asked if Ovechkin would support Russia "no matter what."

The 41-year-old replied, "Well, I'm gonna live there, yeah."

This prompted the ESPN journalist to ask an inflammatory question: "So if they're responsible for a genocide, you would support the genocide?"

Ovechkin asked for a translation of "genocide" from a member of his media team, a note corroborated by different outlets. He then replied, "Oh. I would say, like, I'm, I hope it's not gonna, it's not gonna be like that."

RELATED: Sophie Cunningham defends Sydney Sweeney — but admits she 'morally' has a problem

In a clip from CTV News, Ovechkin told reporters he is going to move back to Russia when he retires from hockey.

"I'm going to stay there. I'm going to live there. My kids are going to live there."

Regarding the political ad, Ovechkin stated that he's "for peace and love" and that he hopes "everything's going to be okay."

He revealed when he was asked to do the commercial, he simply replied, "Yes."

"So, simple as that," Ovechkin said.

Outlet HockeyFeed said Klemko then "pressed" Ovechkin after the group press conference and attempted to tell the player what his involvement in the ad "really signals."

Ovechkin continuously gave statements like "I'm not in politics," and "I don't know who that is" in regard to certain people featured in the ad, but Klemko pressed forward and asked the Russian if he felt he was perpetuating propaganda.

"It mimics messaging Russians get that says Ukraine is responsible for being invaded by Russia," Klemko wrote.

"I can't say who's right and who's wrong," Ovechkin responded soon thereafter.

Klemko said he told Ovechkin that one of the people in the ad is "Maria Lvova Belova," who, he said, "got an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for abducting Ukrainian children."

Ovechkin said he didn't know who that person is.

RELATED: Charles Barkley defends WNBA, but says 'race' and 'sexuality' are behind Sophie Cunningham clashes

Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images

Klemko's subsequent article for ESPN, published Thursday, cited University of Maryland "senior scholar" Sarah Oates, who directly stated that Russia is "perpetuating a genocide on Ukrainian people."

"Putin has said Ukraine and Ukrainians have no right to exist. And this is a key reason for the invasion. Ovechkin supports Putin, he supports the Russian regime, and that means he supports genocide," Oates claimed.

After his questions about genocide, Klemko said the media relations team ended his interview with Ovechkin.

Capitals general manager Chris Patrick later told ESPN that if Ovechkin had told the franchise about the ad, the organization would have "worked to avoid the situation very hard. And I doubt we'd be standing where we're standing right now if he had run it by us."

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Sydney Sweeney Ad Backlash Exposes The Naked Hypocrisy Of Modern Feminists

The media storm surrounding a raunchy sports betting ad reveals selective outrage and deep ideological hypocrisy.

Pat McAfee refused to fold, and ESPN paid up. There's a lesson there for young men.



ESPN once devoted more than five consecutive hours of prime-time programming to diversity, inclusion, and intersectionality.

The network became so woke that it went from being the most trusted name in sports to pulling a broadcaster off the air for having a name that sounded racist.

'We're watching.'

That's a true story.

A network's nadir

In 2017, a part-time sportscaster was set to announce the William & Mary-Virginia football game at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia. The only problem was his name was Robert Lee, and that was too close to Confederate General Robert E. Lee for ESPN, even though Lee is Asian.

The broadcaster was reassigned to cover a different game that day.

Still, the ESPN snowball was nowhere near critical mass. The next month, ESPN reporter Jemele Hill called President Trump a "white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself [with] white supremacists."

When the George Floyd era came around, it ushered in unquantifiable amounts of diversity programming at the network, culminating in the "Time for Change" broadcast that time certainly forgot. From 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on June 24, 2020, ESPN aired segments with Black Lives Matters founders, essays about "white privilege," and race-based poetry readings.

In an effort to clear-cut any nonbelievers, the network pulled hosts Rachel Nichols and Sage Steele off the air in 2021 for daring to raise questions over topics like diversity and vaccines. In 2022, ESPN took a side in the transgender-athlete debate and celebrated Lia Thomas for beating women in swimming.

By 2023, ESPN seemed primed to bottom out, never to regain the respect of men who flicked it on after work or boys who watch "SportsCenter" on repeat during a sick day.

As the network took leaps to becoming a laughingstock, it seemingly had no choice but to force a pendulum swing. So its leaders turned to none other than a former NFL punter who retired young and had been making waves.

Pat McAfee embodied the opposite of what ESPN preached for years: an offbeat, edgy, small-town personality with the right amount of charm. Most of all, he was doing big numbers, and that's exactly what the network needed.

With millions of subscribers and hundreds of thousands of live viewers, ESPN pulled up to McAfee's house with a dump truck full of money: $85 million over five years, to be exact.

A contract that big may tighten the intellectual belt for some, but not McAfee. He wasted no time pushing the envelope.

Before his new show even aired, he was making jokes about sex offenders.

RELATED: Cam Newton blows the lid off the NFL, claims players, coaches, and execs faked their COVID-19 vaccination

Lauren Leigh Bacho/Getty Images

Paging 'Mr. Pfizer'

"I think Nassar was in on the design team actually," McAfee said in response to some college football uniforms. Larry Nassar was convicted of sex crimes against young female athletes on the USA Gymnastics team.

Why comment on the tautness of a team's pants? Why not? Reset.

McAfee's show aired in September 2023 and got off to a blazing start. But it didn't take long for friend of the show and NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers to start making his weekly appearances, something he had done since 2020.

That marked the end of McAfee's tenure as a noncontroversial host, just a month into his new ESPN show.

The quarterback dropped back and threw a bomb on ESPN airwaves, calling fellow NFL player Travis Kelce "Mr. Pfizer" for promoting a COVID-19 vaccine.

Rodgers wasn't pulled off the air, censored, or reprimanded by McAfee; the host let him go off. In fact, he let him go off for months as he criticized the NFL and the federal government, while acting as Rodgers' sounding board in his years-long feud with TV host Jimmy Kimmel.

McAfee endured constant criticisms at the time. Chief among them were claims that ESPN had wasted its money on him and his contract was tantamount to spending almost $100 million to platform conspiracy theories.

This didn't stop the podcaster. McAfee turned a negative into a positive and became the go-to source for mainstream controversial content in the sports world, whether he liked it or not.

RELATED: Joe Rogan & Shane Gillis say we're never going back — and young men should listen

Working out

When McAfee was told his success as an informal presenter was based on him being white, he didn't let the accusations paint him into a corner. In fact, he broke the wall down of what he was allowed to say.

"There's one white bitch for the Indiana team who is a superstar," McAfee said, ironically as an ESPN disclaimer scrolled by at the bottom of the screen.

McAfee explained that he was actually praising WNBA star Caitlin Clark, but that didn't matter; the media wanted a scalp. The former player apologized, said what he meant, and moved on. They were expecting a collapse, but when the pressure mounted, McAfee refused to fold.

When LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith nearly came to blows, McAfee hosted James in a way no other outlet would. He didn't ask for an apology or a prepared statement; he simply said, "We're watching."

Indeed McAfee and company watched when James likened Smith to Taylor Swift. They listened to James describe Smith as eating ice cream in his "tighty-whities" at home. The most popular NBA player in a generation was trash-talking with the boys, and it was airing on ESPN. No network apology-broadcast followed.

The formula hasn't changed, either. Rolling through 2026, McAfee is still having Rodgers on to trash Anthony Fauci and reprimand his haters, but he does so in front of live college football audience.

No matter how many people call McAfee a conspiracy-theory pusher or a "threat" to journalism, he has persevered, using a philosophy he only recently published: "If I seen young me, what would I tell him now? Just breathe; it’ll all work out. Somehow it'll all work out."

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Jason Whitlock torches Ryan Clark’s teary ESPN exit: ‘He couldn’t stay in his lane’



After Ryan Clark was fired from ESPN, he used the opportunity to portray himself as someone who stood on principle and represented his community.

But BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock sees a different story and isn’t buying Clark’s latest teary appearance on “The Pivot Podcast.”

“What I’m dealing with is, in truth, a first-world problem,” Clark said, before explaining that he represented the black community and “wouldn’t change anything.”

“‘Cause that means the world to me,” he said through tears.

“First-world problem. His words. And then two minutes of tears,” Whitlock says, before playing more of Clark’s reaction to his firing.


“A company who’s going to have the Super Bowl this year, who truly wants to put their best foot forward to the entire world and have the best people talking about football, wouldn’t fire, in my opinion, and it seems to be the opinion of many others, the best football analyst in the world,” Clark said.

“The self-proclaimed best football analyst in the world could not decipher his own work situation,” Whitlock comments.

“ESPN paid Ryan Clark to do one thing: talk football. That is the contract. That is the whole job description. And he couldn’t stay in his lane,” he adds.

Clark also claimed in the interview that he knew that he “couldn’t be too black.”

“Nobody asked him to be the racial conscience of Bristol, Connecticut. His bosses didn’t commission it. The audience didn’t demand it. He appointed himself. And then he was surprised when the people writing the checks didn’t appreciate the self-appointment,” Whitlock says.

Despite claiming that it was never about the money, Clark went on to complain that he had a life of “excess” taken away from him, which he was using to help his family.

“No accountability, no self-awareness, just the excesses, the parents, the nieces, the nephews, the lifestyle they’re accustomed to. Threw it all away,” Whitlock says.

“The man who told you it was never about the money, then spent four minutes explaining in precise detail exactly what the money was for, exactly who depended on it, exactly what changes now that it’s gone,” he continues.

“He chose the community over his family,” he says, adding, “He thought that made him noble.”

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Whitlock: Jay Z and Bad Bunny broke the Super Bowl. Now ESPN is purging its house.



There’s a striking parallel between ESPN’s latest round of layoffs and the dystopian world of the film "The Purge" — and BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock knows why.

“In the movie ‘The Purge,’ the ruling class gives you one night a year, 12 hours, where all crime, including murder, is legal. They sell it to you as catharsis, healing, a release valve, so the country stays calm the other 364 days,” Whitlock explains on “Fearless.”

“It’s a lie. The purge was never about healing. It was about money. The elites quietly eliminating the people they decided were too expensive to keep and dressing it up as something noble so nobody asked the real question,” he continues, adding, “This week ESPN began its purge.”

Of those “purged” were Ryan Clark, Cam Newton, and many other veteran anchors.


“The network wants you to believe it’s just business, restructuring, budget cuts. Don’t buy the catharsis story. There’s a body they’re protecting. It’s worth billions,” he says, “It’s called the Super Bowl.”

And while some are blaming “racism” for the firings, Whitlock points out that plenty of white broadcasters have been cut.

“The purge doesn’t kill by color. It kills by cost. It eliminates whoever’s become too expensive, too much liability for the future the elites are building. That’s what you’re watching. Not a racial purge, an economic one,” he says.

“Clark and Newton weren’t cut for their skin, they were cut because they carried the most risk to the thing ESPN is trying to save,” he explains, noting that they were “loud, divisive,” and “expensive in every way that matters when you’re about to host the biggest broadcast in America.”

And the writing was on the wall when ESPN hosted the most recent Super Bowl featuring Bad Bunny as the halftime performer.

“Last year’s Super Bowl leaned into Bad Bunny at halftime. Divisive, political, and a huge slice of the country. The traditional patriotic core of the football audience felt like the game was no longer being made for them,” Whitlock says.

“The NFL’s whole flirtation with the Jay-Z era, the constant catering to an audience that was never the football base. It cost them. The ratings told the story, and everyone inside the building read it,” he continues.

“What do you do? You purge. You clean out everyone who represents the era that started the bleeding. Not for their color, for their cost to the number you have to protect,” he adds.

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Did Jason Whitlock cost Cam Newton his ESPN job?



After being laid off by ESPN, Cam Newton insists he never saw the exit coming. But BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock isn’t buying it — especially considering longtime nemesis of Whitlock, Stephen A. Smith, was involved.

“A few weeks ago, Cam Newton was one of Stephen A.’s brothers and ... then Cam Newton made the mistake of interviewing me, and everybody seems to be blaming me for Cam Newton losing his position at ‘First Take,’” Whitlock says before playing a clip of Newton from his own podcast.

“Did you see it coming?” Newton was asked on “4th&1.”

“I didn’t, but that’s not the topic that I want to kind of belabor on. Only thing I can look at now, I will not be going back to ‘First Take,’” he answered.


“He’s totally surprised by this? I find that a tiny bit naive, and it was kind of what I was trying to communicate to Cam. You know, I think he thought that by letting Stephen A. come on Cam’s show and make a fool with Cam that he had paid a pittance that was going to protect him,” Whitlock says.

“But, you know, Stephen A. is so funny, so inauthentic that I’m shocked that Cam fell for it and didn’t see it coming. It’s a level of naivety that, maybe it shouldn’t shock me, but it does,” he adds.

However, Dre Baldwin isn’t surprised.

“This is corporate. ESPN’s corporate. And in corporate America, when you get the pink slip, it’s not like they tell you two weeks before. They tell you the day of. They don’t have to give you a reason, and that’s that. So, I actually can understand Cam having not seen it coming,” he explains.

“When they fire you, they fire you. I mean, did they tell you ahead of time they were going to fire you?” he asks Whitlock.

“No, but I could see it,” Whitlock says.

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SNL comedian hosts ESPY Awards, celebrates immigrants while taking shots at American culture



Last night, Manhattan’s David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center hosted the annual ESPY Awards, honoring the top athletes, teams, and sports performances of the year.

As a first-time host, Marcello Hernández kicked off the ceremony with a comedy monologue that mixed sports with jokes about immigrants, American culture, and race.

'Sports without immigrants is just cornhole.'

Saturday Night Live cast member Hernández, who is of Dominican and Cuban descent, began by shouting out last year’s host, Shane Gillis, joking that Gillis was watching from home “like a true American — on his couch, drinking a beer, while a Hispanic guy does his job.”

He then praised immigrant athletes, declaring, “Immigrant athletes are what make sports great because at the end of the day, sports without immigrants is just cornhole.”

Joking about America’s habit of calling its sports champions “world champions,” Hernández said the FIFA World Cup is “the time when American sports fans remember what the word ‘world’ means,” adding that they typically think it just means “the U.S. and one team from Toronto.”

RELATED: 'This country backed our team': Praise for US Soccer pours in as players promise brighter future

He also took aim at the “white sport” of hockey, saying, “You know how I know hockey is a white sport? No matter what you do, the worst thing that happens is, ‘Go to time-out for two minutes.’”

“Latino people watch hockey, and when they see them put those guys in the box for two minutes, the Latino people are like, ‘He gonna do it again. He didn’t learn anything from that.’”

Congratulating WNBA players on their new collective bargaining agreement, Hernández poked fun at the league’s lesbian athletes.

“There’s a lot of new money in the WNBA, man, opening up the door to a new reality show: ‘Basketball Husbands ... and Wives.’” He added after a pause, “But mostly wives.”

Not even Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson was safe from the butt of a joke.

Referring to Brunson winning an NBA championship with his father, Rick Brunson, as an assistant coach, Hernández said it proved “that nepotism, like most things, is way cooler when a black guy does it.”

RELATED: NFL legend Chris Johnson, father of 4, reveals devastating diagnosis: 'I can't even hold a cup'

Mike Coppola/Getty Images

While Hernández’s remarks provided the evening’s opening entertainment, the show ultimately returned to celebrating the athletes and teams who defined the past year.

Among the night’s biggest winners were the New York Knicks, who took home Best Team; Shohei Ohtani, who won Best Single-Game Performance; and Jalen Brunson, who earned Best Athlete — Men’s Sports.

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WNBA commissioner accuses reporter of sexist question — and no one is buying it



WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert managed to steal the focus away from her league on draft night.

The WNBA received premium treatment by airing on ESPN's flagship channel in prime time on Monday night, but it was actually the pre-draft press conference that has made a lasting impression with viewers online.

'As women, we get asked different questions than men do.'

With just one simple question from New York Post reporter Madeline Kenney, Engelbert went viral for her odd response.

"How much longer do you anticipate to be in this role?" Kenney asked.

Engelbert immediately attacked the premise:

"I do crack up how everybody's focused on me," the commissioner began. "And you should be focused on the hundreds of amazing women and thousands of women who run this league outside of myself ... my whole team of, you know, diverse women and men who are working hard every day to get the 30th season tipped off by May 8," she went on.

Bizarrely, Engelbert then asked if the reporter would dare question a male commissioner the same way.

"I wonder whether you would ask that of a man, by the way. But I realize, as women, we get asked different questions than men do."

"I would," the reporter quickly affirmed.

However, those siding with Engelbert were few and far between online, with fans and reporters alike pointing out how often major sports commissioners do receive questions about their tenure and even face calls for resignation.

RELATED: Angel Reese TRADED — but Chicago Sky isn’t being honest about why, Jason Whitlock says

- YouTube

"Its [sic] always asked of men. Like, all the time," one fan responded on X.

"Has she not seen people calling for the heads of every commissioner of every sport?" a Brooklyn Nets fan wrote.

A New York Yankees fan replied, "There is literally nothing wrong with asking that. Give me a break."

Sports journalists did not offer much solace for the commissioner either. Even Jemele Hill, a reporter from the Athletic known for her frequent political commentary from the left, chimed in:

"If a man had her track record, absolutely" he would be asked, Hill wrote.

There was really no shortage of sports reporters who disagreed with the WNBA boss, including female reporters.

"This would be asked of a man and has," wrote Front Row Sports' Annie Costabile. "Her response was a failed attempt at diverting from the discussions about her job security."

As well, NBC Sports' Nicole Auerbach noted that "male pro sports commissioners get asked questions about their future all the time." Auerbach called it a "totally valid question" that garnered a "fascinating, super-defensive response."

RELATED: UConn star Tarris Reed praises Jesus ahead of national championship: 'He changed everything about me'

Greg Wyshynski, senior NHL writer at ESPN, wrote on X that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman "gets asked this question so often that he's taken to preemptively answering it before it’s asked."

Less than a month ago, Bettman was asked directly whether he had plans to step down.

"Absolutely not," Bettman said, per Sports Illustrated. "You keep trying to get rid of me. No such luck."

In February, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver faced calls to be fired, while NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is routinely asked if he will step down, typically following an embarrassing incident in his league.

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