Charissa Thompson created a major controversy last week after admitting that she made up some of her sideline reports in the past. The anchor for Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” has been the recipient of intense criticism from many of her peers.
Thompson made the admission during a conversation with Erin Andrews, and now the Fox Sports’ reporter finds herself embroiled in the controversy as well. Andrews admitted she’s done something similar during a conversation with Thompson on the “Calm Down with Erin and Charissa” podcast, according to Brandon Contes of mediaite.com
Thompson was covering the Detroit Lions team that went 0-16 during the 2008 season and asked head coach Rod Marinelli about the team.
“I was like, ‘Oh coach what adjustments are you gonna make at halftime?’” Thompson said, according to mediaite.com. “He goes, ‘That’s a great perfume you’re wearing.’ I was like, ‘Oh (no), this isn’t gonna work.’ I’m not kidding, I made up a report.”
“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!” Andrews said.
Jill Fritzo, Andrews’ spokesperson, issued a statement to the New York Times.
“For her entire career, Erin Andrews has worked very closely with coaches, players and P.R. staffs to ensure accuracy in her reporting ... she took information from earlier meetings with coaches to include in her reports, and that when she was on the air she was always ‘clear’ about where her information comes from.”
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