“The fans were feral” - Controversial Ryder Cup announcer explains what led to the ‘F*** you Rory’ chants at Bethpage

Ryder Cup announcer Heather McMahan ran into trouble after joining New Yorkers in their “F*** you Rory” chant. The first-tee emcee was removed from the role for the action on Day 2 of the team event. She has now come out to dub it a “horrible” mistake.

Video of McMahan repeating the vulgar chant one time into her microphone over the public address system went viral last week. Following this, the veteran American comedian offered an instant personal apology to Rory McIlroy. Days after this, McMahan addressed the same on her own YouTube channel ‘Absolutely Not’ and blamed it on the “brutal environment.” She dubbed the Bethpage fans “feral” and “rowdy.”

The axed announcer further claimed that media ‘spun the story’ by blaming her for starting the chants at Ryder Cup. She reiterated being ‘foolish’ for joining the fans in the act.

Speaking on the latest episode of Absolutely Not podcast, Heather McMahan said:

“The Ryder Cup is feral. The fans were feral. It was a brutal environment. You're probably a 55-year-old Irish man, and you're very angry with me right now, which you're allowed to be… Tensions are high, but it's fun and it's funny, and everyone's kind of like rowdy and obnoxious, but it's always been in a positive way. And, unfortunately, this year, I think, it turned pretty sour…

The word I had gotten from the team was we need to get everybody hyped… I made the absolute horrible mistake of saying it back to them once. And if you watch the video, I'm kind of like laughing to myself, like, ‘F*** you, Rory?’ I'm just, like, what? And the media took that, spun it and said that I had started all of these chants. I will take full responsibility and sincerely apologize to Rory, Team Europe, for saying that, it was so foolish of me.”

McMahan further repeated that she “did not start the chant” as some media claimed. She said the chant was the announcers “trying to be funny” which soon got “negative.”

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Heather McMahan face backlash after Ryder Cup

The immediate aftermath of Heather McMahan joining the Ryder Cup fans' chant included European Tour officials reaching out to her at Bethpage. The comedian claimed to try and shift the audiences’ energy and failed. She further stated making her apologies on Saturday night and still woke up to derogatory and misogynistic social-media comments.

Speaking about the aftermath of the controversial chant at Bethpage, Heather McMahan added:

“Somebody from the European tour came over and he was, like, ‘Listen, it's one thing if you guys cuss, we've said that's fine. You can say like, let's f**king go. But nothing directed towards a player. We were, like, ‘heard, understood, Roger that, you got it.’ I will do the best I can to shift the energy fully on the same page. I'll get out the T-shirt cannon, I'll be shooting out free sh**t into the audience and hope that that keeps 'em happy.”

It is pertinent to note that McMahan was immediately relieved of her Ryder Cup announcer role after the said conversation. Finishing up, the comedian said she ‘learned the lesson’ to better understand the specifics of a gig before committing. The Love Hard actor also took a jibe at her employers by stating that she didn’t realize she would only be a “glorified cheerleader” at Bethpage.