Erin Andrews is the one person who knows what it is like when a fan can take things to far.
The Fox Sports veteran NFL sideline reporter had an encounter with a male fan while covering a Buccaneers game recently that made her upset.
In the latest installment of her “Calm Down” podcast with fellow Fox personality Charissa Thompson, Andrews spoke about when she was trying to interview Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield but then a fan began yelling in her direction to give him a picture with her.
She said it made her feel like “an animal in a zoo” because of how he was treating her.
“I was standing — name drop — with Baker Mayfield before the game talking because I haven’t seen him for the past year and as I’m standing there, this guy was like ‘Erin, come over here! I want a picture!’” Andrews said. “I was just like, ‘Am I an animal in a zoo?’”
“Baker taps me on the shoulder and he’s like ‘Have fun with that one,’” Andrews said.
“‘I want a picture!’” she imitated the fan. “You know what? I want a lot of things but am I screaming at you?”
Andrews later added he had an even worse situation that went down on a plane where a fan told her to “smile more.” The man then became rude so she retaliated with a “not nice word” in his direction.
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“The guy turns around at the bar and goes, ‘I know who you are’ and I was like, ‘Cool. Anyways, thank you so much, here’s a tip [to the bartender] — and he goes, ‘You need to smile’ more and I said, ‘I didn’t ask.’
“Then I went to go grab my bag, tip the girl [and thank her]… I walked by him… and he goes, ‘You’re not nice,’ and I said a not nice word.”
Andrews added that if she were a man, people wouldn’t talk to her like that.
“Don’t tell me to smile, I’m hungry!”
Andrews once used to patrol the sidelines for the Worldwide Leader in Sports, but she left ESPN after eight years back in 2012 for a better opportunity.
In 2012, Andrews moved to Fox Sports, where she continued her work as a sports reporter and host. She has been involved in Fox’s NFL and MLB coverage, as well as major events like the Super Bowl.
These daays, she remains on Fox’s top NFL team, alongside Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen, and sometime in the future, Tom Brady when he finally starts his broadcasting career.