Charissa Thompson upset the sports media fraternity with a surprising revelation this week, opening a can of worms that has earned her some serious backlash.
The FOX sportscaster has been on the receiving end of plenty of criticism from her journalistic peers after claiming to have made up sideline reports in the past.
“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.
While she’s incurred the wrath of reporters and fans alike, Charissa is not the first to disclose such as Erin Andrews, also of FOX, said something very similar on the ‘Calm Down’ podcast last year.
“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.
Andrews did not attract as much stick as Thompson did.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
Meanwhile, Thompson has attempted to clarify her comments 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.”