ESPN operated 13-year Emmy scheme using fake names to get awards for top talent
Stars such as Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, and Samantha Ponder were among those to receive the fake Emmys, with The Athletic noting the on-air talent was not in on the scheme or aware the Emmys were…
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ESPN operated 13-year Emmy scheme using fake names to get awards for top talent
By Matt EhaltESPN got caught.
The network made up fake names for Emmy Awards in order to honor on-air talent who were ineligible to receive awards, only for the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), which oversees the Emmys, to foil the scheme, according to The Athletic.
“Some members of our team were clearly wrong in submitting certain names 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,” ESPN said in a statement to The Post.
“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.”
ESPN had operated the scheme since 2010 by getting awards for fake individuals, re-engraving the statuettes and then delivering them to their on-air personalities, per the report.
Stars such as Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard and Samantha Ponder were among those to receive the fake Emmys, with The Athletic noting the on-air talent was not in on the scheme or aware the Emmys were not real.
“I think it was really crummy what they did to me and others,” ex-ESPN talent Shelley Smith, who had two fake Emmys taken away, told the outlet.
ESPN’s punishment included the returning of the trophies, a one-year ban from the Emmys for senior leadership, along with two individuals, ESPN executive Craig Lazarus and former ESPN employee and “College GameDay executive Lee Fitting, being named ineligible for future Emmys.
This scheme helped honor the talent behind the success of “College GameDay,” since the hosts were not eligible to be honored in a credit list until 2023.
That meant the likes of Herbstreit and Corso did not receive a statuette for any of the eight Emmys the show won from 2008-18, per the report.
ESPN made slight name changes to some of the hosts and listed them as associated producers, per The Athletic, with Herbstreit being called “Kirk Henry” and Corso being named “Lee Clark,” among other made-up submissions.
NATAS asked ESPN to verify names in 2022, and ESPN admitted to the fake names.
The media giant has returned 37 trophies, per the report.
