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Did Kenny Mayne say 'f*** you' to Aaron Rodgers? ESPN host quits network after 27 years with 'mic drop' moment

'For all you journalists out there... this is how you should end your interviews. Face with tears of joy. Kenny the legend,' said one tweet

American sports media personality Kenny Mayne, best known as the host of ‘SportsCenter’ and the ‘Sunday NFL Countdown’ weekly segment called ‘The Mayne Event’, said goodbye to ESPN in style -- throwing in an expletive right at the very end. 

Mayne, a longtime anchor, and correspondent on ESPN, left the network after a long stint of 27 years. “I am leaving ESPN,” he said earlier this month. “Salary cap casualty.” Following that, Mayne said that he declined a contract offer that included “a big pay cut to do essentially the same job.” 

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“They made an offer and I wasn’t exactly flattered and decided to reject it,” Mayne said in an interview. “It was a significant pay cut... It was a 14 percent reduction in time worked and a 61 percent reduction in money earned. I thought the variance was too much.”

The New York Post revealed that, as per sources, Mayne was making in the $1.5 million-plus range to do around 150 SportsCenters per year. “I’m not asking anyone to feel sorry for me,” Mayne said. “It’s my choice to stay or not stay. It was still a good amount of money in the real world. I’m not trying to frame this as woe for me. Nothing like that. I just think I can do better elsewhere. So I told them that I feel like you’ve got a certain over-under on my worth and I’m going to go play the over. They did not seem to care that I made that choice.”

American football quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who plays for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League, was on Mayne’s final show. Mayne said that their last interview ended with Rodgers telling him to invest in cryptocurrency. He did. “We’re down 40 percent,” he said, “then I lost my job, Gretchen just wants a new comforter. F*** you Aaron Rodgers.” Then he walked off, leaving Rodgers laughing for a bit. 

The official Twitter account for ‘Sports Center’ shared the clip with a laugh emoji, saying, “.@Kenny_Mayne ended his interview with @AaronRodgers12 in style.” Many sports fans online loved the irreverent exchange that marked the end of Mayne's ESPN run. 

Journalist Walter Perez wrote on Twitter, “This could be the greatest ‘drop the mic’ moment of all time.” Another Twitter user said, “ESPN is trash, but this is pure gold lolol.” A third person tweeted, “This made my morning. Farewell, @Kenny_Mayne. Can't wait to see what butterfly you become, buddy.”

Others commended how he ended things on the channel. “For all you journalists out there... this is how you should end your interviews. Face with tears of joy. Kenny the legend,” said one user.

Earlier, during the episode, Rodgers offered his first public comments on his ongoing rift with the Packers since rumors arose on April 29 that he wanted to be traded out of Green Bay. "The people. That's the most important thing: The people make an organization," Rodgers said. "People make the business. And sometimes that gets forgotten. Culture, the foundation of it, brick by brick, is built by the people. Not by the organization. Not by the building. Not by the corporation. It's built by the people."

When Mayne asked Rodgers whether he was demanding a trade from the Packers, the quarterback said, "With my situation, it's never been about the draft pick. Picking Jordan, I love Jordan. He's a great kid. A lot of fun to work together. Love my coaching staff, love my teammates, love my fan base in Green Bay. Incredible 16 years. It's just kind of about a philosophy, and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that make the thing go. It's about character, it's about culture. It's about doing things the right way.”