Dan Orlovsky Calls 'Protect Our Daughters' Tweet A 'Whoopsie' After Pat McAfee Presses Him On It On ESPN
Despite receiving a paycheck from ESPN, Pat McAfee doesn't shy away from mixing it up on topics that involve the four-letter network, which is exactly what he did during Dan Orlovsky's most recent appearance on his show.
Orlovsky, a regular guest on ‘The Pat McAfee Show,’ joined the program on Tuesday to break down NFL action from the past weekend. But before signing off, the former NFL punter decided to ask Orlovsky about a recent tweet of his that he quickly deleted after some labeled it "controversial."
Back in early August, Orlovsky tweeted "Protect our daughters." The post came in the middle of the Paris Olympics as the gender madness in the women's boxing portion of the Games took over the sports world. Algeria's Imane Khelif, a fighter who had previously been deemed to have male XY chromosomes, won their opening match in just 46 seconds after female boxer Angela Carini decided to abandon the match.
Orlovsky shared his noncontroversial, common-sense driven statement just after Khelif's win, but quickly deleted it leading many to speculate that his bosses at ESPN asked him to do so.
A couple of weeks after deleting the post, Orlovsky explained that his social media accounts "represent" his employer. Fast-forward a month later, and the post was still on the mind of McAfee, so he decided to ask Orlovsky directly if the higher-ups at ESPN told him to remove his message. McAfee pressed Orlovsky about the tweet while his show was airing on ESPN.
"Before we have a hard out here on ESPN, didn’t want to bring it up obviously, did ESPN tell you to delete that tweet or no?" McAfee asked. "I just need to know. Can you tell me? That’s all you need to say, did ESPN tell you to delete that tweet or no?"
"ESPN did not, nor did anyone associated with ESPN tell me to delete that tweet," Orlovsky explained after a somewhat awkward smile.
Whether anyone at ESPN did or did not influence Orlovsky to quickly delete his post isn't the big talking point from the back-and-forth between the two here, it's that they both seemed to agree that it was a mistake in the first place.
"I get where you were standing," McAfee said. "You feel like, ‘I could lose my job. I don’t need to be that.’ Everybody has attacked you. We want to let you know, we think you’re a good dude. We think you are a good dude, Dan. I think you obviously made a little whoopsie there in that particular situation, and we move on."
Orlovsky went on to say that labeling the tweet a "whoopsie" was an "accurate" assessment.
Tweeting the three-word message of "Protect our daughters" is not a mistake or a "whoopsie" no matter if the situation surrounding Khelif and their gender falls into a gray area.
Believing in protecting our daughters, protecting women's sports, and keeping women's sports exclusive to biological females shouldn't even be a story or even come close to being considered a ‘controversial’ topic. The fact that it is, proves that transgender athletes infiltrating women's sports is a legitimate issue, no matter how many political pundits and the media swear there is nothing to worry about.