NEW ORLEANS — In an appearance on a Super Bowl edition of ESPN's The Pat McAfee Show on Friday, Gov. Jeff Landry said that while bringing a live tiger into Tiger Stadium for LSU's most recent LSU matchup against Alabama didn't produce an LSU victory, he applauded himself for his "1-0 (record) against PETA," which sought to keep the tiger away.

Landry came under fire from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and others after working to bring a tiger into the stadium last November. Days after the tiger's appearance, Landry decried "woke people" who opposed his revival of a Tiger Stadium that involved having the school mascot Mike paraded through the arena.

The Mike-wannabe was 18-month-old Omar Bradley, a Bengal tiger who belongs to an insurance agent in Florida. The appearance marked the first time a tiger had been in the stadium since 2015.

Landry said critics believed he had drugged the tiger because of how docile it appeared. The governor told McAfee and his panelists that he would have never sedated the animal for its appearance, and also noted it would have been illegal. 

"That tiger, he loved being there," Landry said. "The problem was, they didn't leave him there long enough."

State Surgeon General Ralph Abraham also said last November that Omar Bradley had not been drugged.

The faux-Mike the Tiger was on the sideline for only a few minutes before LSU lost 42-13 against Alabama. Landry told McAfee it cost about $5 million in non-state or school funds to procure the substitute tiger after a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries mandate prevented Mike VII from appearing on the field.

Landry told McAfee he hopes that "a lot of people out there realize it's not a big thing." He argued that keeping the university's tiger in its enclosure 24/7 was akin to "keeping you in your house and never letting you out," a sentiment McAfee agreed with.

The governor also discussed his pride in the city of New Orleans and Louisiana as the perfect place for "the greatest show on Earth," referencing the Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.

"Hospitality was invented in the South but it was perfected in Louisiana," Landry said.

When asked by McAfee's panel where the best place to get alligator was, Landry said he would take care of the out-of-towners.

"I'm the best place to get gator," the governor joked.

Landry said he and his wife will be at the Super Bowl, sitting in box seating at Caesars Superdome, but played coy about who he would support.

He added efforts put in place to reinforce security in the aftermath of the New Year's Day attack on Bourbon Street that killed 14 will ensure an unprecedented amount of safety when President Donald Trump attends the Super Bowl.

"We're safe. We're good," he said. "Put him right in."