Charles Barkley Tells Pat McAfee To Tell His Haters To 'Shut The F--k Up' After Signing With ESPN

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Pat McAfee has received some hate from those questioning why he would decide to take himself and his wildly successful show to ESPN. Charles Barkley has seen some of the criticism the former NFL punter has taken and offered up some advice for McAfee on how to combat the haters.

Barkley joined 'The Pat McAfee Show' on Friday and after the two exchanged some pleasantries, the Hall of Famer told McAfee he needs to simply tell his haters to "shut the f-ck up."

"I'm happy for your success and hey, listen, I seen you last week saying people are giving you a hard time for taking your new deal," Barkley began. "Tell them to shut the f-ck up. Who don't take a better f-cking job, tell 'em to shut the f-ck up."

It's a safe bet that Chuck and McAfee won't exactly be allowed to cut up like this when the show makes its way to the four-letter network.

Last week, shortly after McAfee confirmed the rumor that he's heading to ESPN for a reported $10 million per year, he explained to listeners that he was surprised by some of the backlash he received in light of the move.

“It’s been tough to go over the mentions,” McAfee said. “It has been tough out there. I don’t think I expected that. That was a miscalculation … I think the reason I didn’t expect it is because it didn’t even cross my mind…I feel like our people are the ones that were most mad. It’s like, ‘Hey, we have a good history, do we not?'”

“I don’t know,” McAfee added. “I guess not. … Some of the things that are being said are very, very, very rude.”

READ: CHARLES BARKLEY ATTEMPTS TERRIBLE BOSTON ACCENT

It's pretty clear that McAfee has been a little busy building what has turned into a powerhouse of a show and following the last few years to pay attention to the fact that almost everything and everyone ESPN has touched over the last half-decade or so has gone south.

You can't fault the guy for securing a large, large bag from ESPN, but nobody would be shocked to see the network stick its gross fingers into McAfee's project and damage it.

Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and all other happenings in the world of golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.