On “Pardon My Take,” Charissa Thompson disclosed that she had fabricated sideline reports in the past. For both good and terrible reasons, that admission has gone incredibly viral.
Charissa Thompson worked as a sideline reporter for Fox Sports before taking on the challenging role of interviewing coaches and posing pointed questions to them during games.
She recently admitted that she would willfully fabricate stories about what coaches said during sideline reports in an interview with the Pardon My Take podcast.
Charissa Thompson says that sometimes she would “make up” sideline reports… 😂
“I would make up reports sometimes because the coach wouldn’t come out at halftime”
(via: @PardonMyTake)
https://t.co/W3l2QxCpql— JPA (@jasrifootball) November 16, 2023
“I’ve said this before,” Thompson said on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take. “I haven’t been fired to 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 didn’t want to screw up the report. So I was like, ‘I’m just gonna make this up.’
“Because first of all, no coach is gonna get mad if I say, ‘Hey, we need to stop hurting ourselves, we need to be better on third down, we need to stop turning the ball over and do a better job of getting off the field.’ They’re not gonna correct me on that. So I’m like, it’s fine, I’ll just make up the report.”
Molly McGrath of ESPN took strong offense at her remarks and used her X account to give a warning to aspiring journalists.
In addition, the 41-year-old Thompson and Fox Sports sideline reporter Erin Andrews co-host the “Calm Down” podcast.
Young reporters: This is not normal or ethical. Coaches and players trust us with sensitive information, and if they know that you’re dishonest and don’t take your role seriously, you’ve lost all trust and credibility. https://t.co/yMnM1T995P
— Molly McGrath (@MollyAMcGrath) November 16, 2023
McGrath’s athletic prowess was well-established prior to his career as a sideline reporter. She cheered for Boston College University as a Division I athlete.
Before moving for a few years to work for Fox Sports, she would serve as a production assistant at ESPN, where she would log play-by-plays, compile highlights, and handle other support duties for different ESPN shows.
She would return in 2016 to work as a sideline reporter for college athletics and co-host of College Football Live.
