What began as a prediction about a Tennessee-Texas matchup quickly spiraled into a disturbing controversy for ESPN’s Pat McAfee. The ESPN broadcaster is now speaking out after veteran journalist Jon Root allegedly altered one of his posts, seemingly triggering a wave of threats.

“Woke up this morning; folks were really coming after me for being a really big piece of s–t who has ruined everything,” McAfee wrote on X. “I keep scrolling &…just some awesome internet happening lately. Last week it was @JonnyRoot_ completely lying about what I said and dropping me into something with potential real-life repercussions.

“This week.. @ShaneTuttleNCAA does some of its finest internetting… The good news is, all of these folks that were very excited to believe this DEFINITELY got a follow-up about this being fake, right?”

A parody X account by the name of Shane Tuttle and Jon Root allegedly altered Pat McAfee’s opinions on College GameDay. Those posts garnered backlash against the broadcaster.

“Strange: Pat McAfee picks President Donald Trump to win the Texas vs. Tennessee matchup on College GameDay. ‘I only root for one team, and that team is Team USA,'” Tuttle wrote on X.

Meanwhile, what McAfee actually predicted was Tennessee to beat Texas by noting, “I had all intents and purposes of picking Arch Manning…[but] give me the Tennessee Volunteers to give a huge win over the No. 1 team in the country.”

However, the backlash followed over the altered post, where one netizen even pointed out the demise of Charlie Kirk, who is a former close ally of President Donald Trump.

“That’s fun. That’s the good stuff. And if I do get ‘kirked,’ please know that I love my kin and I love ball. Now…Let’s have a phenomenal NFL Sunday,” McAfee wrote on X.

As online comments referenced being ‘Kirked,’ McAfee called out the threats, highlighting how a fake post quickly turned into safety concerns.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned for more updates.