Pat McAfee Addresses Donation To Super Bowl Photographer’s GoFundMe After Racist Past Surfaces

Pat McAfee was one of hundreds of people who came together for what they believed was a good cause. Kelly Smiley was working for the NFL to take photographs of the Los Angeles Rams’ Super Bowl LVI victory parade. A scary fall from the parade stage led to a nightmare for Kelly.

A friend put together a GoFundMe page shortly after the fall. Kelly revealed via Twitter that she had fractured her spine and broken some expensive photographic equipment. People from around the world joined forces to raise money and help Smiley out.

Podcaster, former NFL star, and WWE commentator Pat McAfee was among those who donated. Pat gave a very generous sum of $5,000. McAfee had no idea of the racist and homophobic tweets Kelly Smiley had allegedly posted in the past. Pat took to Twitter in the aftermath to offer a very reasonable explanation.

“I donated to a lady’s GoFundMe who broke her spine during the Super Bowl parade..I assumed she worked 4 somebody important 2 be credentialed.

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Since donating, A LOT of terrible things have come to light from her Twitter account that I obviously don’t support at all..

I don’t think I can ask for a refund for a GoFund Me. I’ve learned from this situation though.. You can’t just assume folks who are representing/working on the world’s biggest stage have passed any moral background checks like most athletes and others have to pass in this modern world.

Cheers to continued growth for our entire society as we move forward .. Reality states that we are literally in this thing together.. Whether we all like it or not. Might as well try to get along, try not make folks feel terrible about themselves, and move along.”

Pat McAfee has handled the situation extremely well. Many assumed that an NFL-credentialed photographer would have been vetted more thoroughly. A lot of people who were just trying to do the right thing learned the same lesson as Pat.

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