This week, Charissa Thompson made a startling statement that rocked the sports media community and resulted in a lot of negative backlash.
After confessing to have made up sideline reports in the past, the FOX sportscaster has come under heavy fire from her fellow journalists.
“I’ve said this before, so I haven’t been fired for saying it, but I’ll say it again. I would make up the report sometimes because A., the coach wouldn’t come out at halftime, or it was too late, and I was like, I didn’t want to screw up the report, so I was like, I’m just gonna make this up,” she said during an interview on the ‘Pardon My Take’ podcast.
Although Charissa has angered both journalists and fans, she is not the first to make such a revelation; last year, Erin Andrews, a FOX employee, made a nearly similar statement on the “Calm Down” podcast.
“I’ve done that, too, for a coach that I didn’t want to throw under the bus because he was telling me all the wrong stuff!” she’s quoted as saying.
Compared to Thompson, Andrews did not draw as much criticism.
WOW: Fox’s Erin Andrews says she also made up a halftime report on an #NFL sideline.
“I’ve done that too”
“For a coach that I didn’t wanna throw under the bus because he was telling me all the wrong stuff.” pic.twitter.com/JCwJQaY2oO
— MLFootball (@MLFootball) November 17, 2023
Thompson has since made an effort to elucidate her remarks in an Instagram post.
“Working in media I understand how important words are and I chose the wrong words to describe the situation,” she wrote. “I’m sorry. I have never lied about anything or been unethical during my time as a sports broadcaster.”
“In the absence of a coach providing any information that could further my report I would use information that I learned and saw during the first half to create my report… In these instances I never attributed anything I said to a player or coach.”
