"You'll get plenty of more opening days. Let Howie and Keith Raad finish it the right way with 40,000 people, with optimism, hope, and then Howie can drop the mic and say I'm out."
"There wasn't a ton of meat on the bone. … Suffice it to say it didn't go the way that I thought it was going to go. Not necessarily anyone's fault or anything like that."
"To sit there and criticize a bunch of guys who did something great for this country over and over again, for accepting a visit to the White House or for showing up at the State of the Union, is absolutely un-American."
"There was one soft toss to the President. What would you do about this? He started rambling about how the Gamecocks are good and the NFL kickoff rule. It was just bad."
"It’s the President of the United States requesting to come on a college football show that didn’t exist five and a half years ago. That’s why we did it."
"There’s something to be said for the idea that two politically active global artists performed on the biggest stage in American sports. Moreover the decision to let the music speak for itself."
Following the situation, Collins remained largely mum on the topic. However, many took to social media to chastise him for his handling of the incident, lambasting his reaction.
"The contrast with Finebaum isn’t subtle, and neither is the message sent to the rest of the ESPN roster. Some voices get guardrails. Others get carte blanche. That approach may make business sense in the short term, but it erodes internal trust and external clarity."
"I said, ‘Hey, would love to be able to do the show from the White House for the fight.’ And he goes, ‘Really?’ And I go, ‘Good?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah.’"
"You'll get plenty of more opening days. Let Howie and Keith Raad finish it the right way with 40,000 people, with optimism, hope, and then Howie can drop the mic and say I'm out."