McAfee seizes the moment with media relations brilliance.
The Pat McAfee Show. If you didn’t know about it a week ago, you do now, all thanks to the goose that laid the golden egg – Aaron Rodgers and the controversy he created around his COVID-19 immunization (or lack thereof).
So, it’s no slouch when it comes to the audience, but one can’t hold it against you if you haven’t heard of it.
But following Rodger’s deception to media, McAfee and his co-host, former NFL linebacker AJ Hawk, did the best thing they could do for their show – let Rodgers, a regular on the show, talk openly, uninterrupted, for 45 minutes straight.
Talk about a great PR move; inviting the reigning NFL MVP and most controversial person in sports at the moment to just talk freely about his immunization against the coronavirus, his research into it, how it’s his body, his choice, without any questions or contradictions.
It’s a smart play by McAfee, who, based on the comments on his YouTube videos, has a wide range of listeners – some who support Rodgers, some who don’t, but all who are interested in hearing what Rodgers has to say.
Not to mention the thousands of news stories, blogs (including this one), and social media posts now talking about The Pat McAfee Show.
Free publicity.
If you’re taking notes …
McAfee allowing Rodgers to speak uninterrupted did two things:
1) it kept him on good terms with Rodgers who will likely come back on the show sooner than later and
2) it kept the host mostly out of the fray that’s now taking place.
McAfee has received some criticism for not contradicting Rodgers on his research and erroneous claims about the COVID-19 vaccines, but that is criticism McAfee welcomed.
But would anyone really expect him to, considering the two have a friendly relationship and millions of listeners tuning it?
Nevertheless, McAfee can ride this wave of publicity for some time, and if he ever needs a boost, he can just invite Rodgers back to talk freely for another 45 minutes.
Following the writing of this blog, Rodgers actually returned to the show on November 9th, to discuss the fallout of his previous interview. Via YouTube, that show has received more than 461,000 views – not as much as the previous segment, but still a significant uptick from other segments.