Nick Wright might not be allowed to “sage the room” on-air like Pat McAfee recently did on ESPN, but he can drink a beer.
McAfee was on ESPN Thursday afternoon when someone noticed him place what appeared to be a lit item into an ashtray. The eight-second clip quickly went viral on social media with most people assuming McAfee was smoking a doobie on ESPN because that’s what it looked like, and because the former NFL punter has been very public about his love for marijuana.
Nick Wright has similarly been open about his previous marijuana use, although he claims to have quit smoking weed about a decade ago. But that won’t preclude him from drinking a beer on his FS1 show, First Things First, with Kevin Wildes and Chris Broussard.
“There’s new rules about what you’re allowed to smoke or drink on TV” – Nick Wright pic.twitter.com/ymRgmRthnv
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 18, 2026
While celebrating the Buffalo Bills winning back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back September championships with their convincing Thursday Night Football win over the Detroit Lions, Wright broke out one of the Labatt Beer Horns sold exclusively at the newly opened Highmark Stadium. Wright filled it with a very foamy Labatt tall boy and took a big swig before passing it on to Wildes. The act prompted Broussard to question whether that type of behavior was allowed on live TV.
“There’s new rules about what you’re allowed to smoke or drink on TV,” Wright said, a clear reference to McAfee appearing to smoke during the ESPN portion of his show Thursday afternoon.
Much like ESPN probably doesn’t have an issue with what McAfee was doing on his show and in his own studio, Fox is probably cool with Wright’s beer bit. Drink or smoke whatever you want on live TV. Just don’t make us watch Dan Orlovsky eat a Mentos.