Charissa Thompson used to make up sideline reports, as revealed on ‘Pardon My Take.’ That admission has gone insanely viral for good and bad reasons.
Before becoming the host for Fox Sports’ Fox NFL Kickoff, Charissa Thompson was a sideline reporter with the network as she was given the difficult task of asking tough questions and talking to coaches during games.
In a recent interview on the Pardon My Take podcast, she revealed that she would blatantly lie about what coaches said during sideline reports.
“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.”
ESPN’s Molly McGrath took major issue with what she said so she took to her X account to send out a stern message for young reporters.
“Young reporters: This is not normal or ethical,” she tweeted. “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.”
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The 41-year-old Thompson also co-hosts the “Calm Down” podcast alongside Fox Sports sideline reporter Erin Andrews.
Before becoming a sideline reporter, McGrath’s athletic ability was well-documented. She was a Division One cheerleader for Boston College University.
She would work at ESPN as a production assistant, where she logged play-by-plays, produced highlights, and other support tasks for various ESPN shows before she left for Fox Sports for a couple of years.
Upon her return in 2016, she would come back as a college sports sideline reporter and co-host of College Football Live.
