Tony Hinchcliffe's “College GameDay” appearance included several gay jokes

We're not entirely sure what ESPN expected when it invited Tony Hinchcliffe for the Saturday edition of College game day. Perhaps the global leader was unaware of his performance on the Netflix series Roast of Tom Brady. Maybe that was it. Obviously he's a comedian, so it's always a roll of the dice from a filter perspective, and that's putting it mildly.

The last time there was a comedian Matchday For the weekly kicking competition, Pat McAfee challenged Shane Gillis to do his famous Donald Trump impression. Otherwise it was pretty harmless. But last week there was at least some precedent for her going beyond PG-13 talk when Kaitlin Olson mentioned losing her virginity to Eugene at the University of Oregon.

In this version of “Anything goes” College game dayHinchcliffe, an Austin native since 2020, made three not-so-LGBTQ+-friendly jokes toward the student participating in the kicking competition. The University of Texas student, a freshman, made some arrogant comments about kicking a football, saying that as a kinesiology (pre-med) student, he had to kick the ball directly.

Hinchcliffe used this as an opportunity to talk about things that aren't necessarily clear.

“I didn’t know we had three prepubescent lesbians kicking today,” he said.

We were featured on College GameDay today as “Prepubescent Lesbian” and “Brokeback Bob the Builder”! pic.twitter.com/ODNPN3OZv2

– Awful Announcement (@awfulanncreasing) October 19, 2024

Probably not what you expected when you turned it on College game day Today! And whether you found it funny or distasteful, McAfee deserves credit for trying to get the conversation back on track while maintaining his composure.

But you didn't think Hinchcliffe would stop there, did you?

“I mean, it looks incredible,” Hinchcliffe said. “He’s like Brokeback Bob-the-Builder.”

That wasn't all, as Hinchcliffe later referred to rookie Max Gomez-Wright as “Matthew Mc-Kinda-Gay,” which is also notable considering Matthew McConaughey may be one of the bigger Texas superfans out there.

Also a Matthew Mc Kinda Gay… https://t.co/qIKYyr8YJM pic.twitter.com/h8bbeoKIow

– Awful Announcement (@awfulanncreasing) October 19, 2024

As Matchday trying to stay fresh and relevant. It's a difficult balance between entertaining and making sure everyone feels welcome.

Based on the immediate responses, and this should come as no surprise, certain viewers likely found Hinchcliffe's comments amusing as part of his no-holds-barred style, while finding them out of place (and offensive) in a national broadcast that has become a Saturday morning family staple .

It will be interesting to see how ESPN handles the fallout from this episode and what it means for the inclusion of comedians like Hinchcliffe Matchday go forward.

(College game day)