Pat McAfee’s ‘People hate my guts’ remark resurfaces after Charlie Kirk’s death and reported bulletproof vest advice

Pat McAfee was reportedly told by the FBI to consider wearing a bulletproof vest on college campuses, according to Front Office Sports. The report, published Tuesday, says the advice came the week after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University in September 2025.

It surfaced days after McAfee said he felt uneasy at College GameDay in Salt Lake City, where the University of Utah had posted a video of students poking fun at him. The school has since apologized. ESPN says it takes the threats seriously. The FBI declined to comment to PEOPLE.

Pat McAfee’s remarks on Kirk and the Utah video

The trouble started before McAfee reached Salt Lake City. On Saturday, Oct. 24, the University of Utah posted a video on its Instagram page of students doing impressions of him.

One called him corny. Another called him creepy.Two days later, McAfee, 39, took it up on his show. “Did not enjoy University of Utah,” he said. His main complaint was the timing. “The university puts that out? Like as I’m about to go out and do an infomercial for the place?” he asked. He added that if students had posted it on their own blogs, he would have been okay with it.Then he brought up Kirk.“I thought to myself, has anything, like, really scary happened at a college gathering in the state of Utah recently?” he said.

“Do we think we should be amplifying reasons for why people hate my guts, as a university? I don’t know.”He did not pretend to be above the jokes. “I have a lot of things that are very hatable about me, I can certainly understand that,” he said. What bothered him was the setting. Kirk was killed about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, a little over a year ago. “I was very, very uncomfortable.”

What the FBI, ESPN and the university have said

Front Office Sports reported that the FBI told McAfee to consider a bulletproof vest the week after Kirk’s death.

Its sources said he regularly gets threatening messages, including death threats. The network that pays him $30 million a year knows it. The FBI declined to comment when PEOPLE reached out, so the vest advice rests on those unnamed sources.

ESPN did not push back on that picture. A spokesperson said the network takes safety seriously “given the very real threats that members of our team face.” The statement closed with a line of backing for its host: “We support Pat and recognize the very real and valid concerns he has around safety and security.”Utah responded with an apology. “We sincerely apologize for creating any perception that Pat was unsafe or unwelcome on our campus,” the school said. It also admitted “we missed the mark” and said the university takes full accountability for posting it. The video has since been deleted.The reporting does not say McAfee wore a vest, and ESPN’s statement does not mention one. What is on the record is his own account of a video that, to him, landed badly in a state still carrying Kirk’s death.