ESPN Used Fake Names to Secure Emmy Statuettes for ‘College GameDay’ Hosts | Report
ESPN used fake names in some of its Sports Emmys entries, then had the awards re-engraved and given to on-air personalities who hadn’t earned them, according to a Thursday report by The Athletic.
Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard, and Samantha Ponder are among those on-air personalities who were given the statuettes.
According to the report, former on-air reporter for ESPN Shelley Smith was asked to return two sports Emmy statuettes that she had been given over a decade prior. This request was made to many of the network’s stars. Overall ESPN acquired more than 30 of the statuettes to present to on-air talent, ineligible to receive them.
The crux of the scheme was that on-air talent was prohibited by NATAS from being awarded the outstanding weekly studio show prize, to prevent “double-dipping” with those eligible for individual awards. EPSN went around the barrier by submitting faux names into the credit list of “College GameDay.”
There is no evidence that those on-air personalities given the ill-gotten Emmys had any idea that they were inappropriately obtained.
The scheme was initially uncovered by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), the organization that puts on the awards presentations. The situation was investigated once uncovered, resulting in sanctions that don’t simply include the statuettes’ return.
The perpetrators of the scheme have not been officially determined, however, vice president and executive producer of original content and features Craig Lazarus, and senior vice president of production who oversaw “College GameDay” Lee Fitting have been banned from participating in the Emmys going forward.
ESPN said in a statement to TheWrap that “Some members of our team were clearly wrong in submitting certain names going back to 2007 (or that MAY go back to 1997) in Emmy categories where they were not eligible for recognition or statuettes. This was a misguided attempt to recognize on-air individuals who were important members of our production team.
“Once current leadership was made aware, we apologized to NATAS for violating guidelines and worked closely with them to completely overhaul our submission process to safeguard against anything like this happening again,” the statement continued.
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