Pat McAfee has never shied away from his passion for supporting all things Indianapolis. The former Colts punter turned sports media commentator has been ever-present at nearly every Indiana Pacers’ playoff game this season.
On Monday, McAfee was asked by the team to fire up the hometown crowd, and the former Colts punter decided to point out the celebrity New York Knicks fans in the crowd, including actor Ben Stiller. Consequently, the Oscar-nominated actor was called out by McAfee, only to then be lumped into McAfee’s messaging to fans as “send these sons of bitches back to New York with their ears bleeding!”
Subsequently, Stiller appeared on The Putback podcast, hosted by Ian Begley of SNY, and was asked about the moment when he was called out by the host of The Pat McAfee Show.
““I have to say, I was not familiar with his game. I did not know that was coming. I’m a casual football fan,” Stiller said. “I get it, it was fun. He was just trying to get the crowd riled up. It was a little bit out of the blue. It’s also like, are we really doing the narrative of Hicks versus Knicks? Like the bigwigs from New York? It just seems a little cartoonish.”
Afterward, the actor recommended that McAfee should attend a game at Madison Square Garden, because the hometown Knicks faithful will give him a “nice cheer,” said Stiller with a laugh.
“When that happened, I was a little bit like, ‘Whoa.’ But the WWE aspect of it, I get it,” said Stiller. “It’s just not the way it happens in New York. He should come to the Garden for Game 5.”
Earlier in the day on Wednesday, Stiller took to social media, calling the moment “weird” but also explaining that the Indiana Pacers’ fans were “awesome.”
As of now, there’s no word on if McAfee will take up Stiller’s offer to attend Game Five of the series tonight at Madison Square Garden.
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