ESPN’s Emmy scheme: Network admits submitting fake names to award show to sidestep eligibility rules and deliver coveted statuettes to College GameDay hosts

Did ESPN pad its stats?

The cable sports giant has admitted to providing fake names to the Emmy Awards host in an effort to collect more statuettes for on-air talent following an in-depth investigation by The Athletics.

The scheme went unnoticed until last year, when it was discovered by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), which presents the Emmy Awards. Several on-air hosts have since been asked by ESPN to return their awards. However, there is no evidence that the broadcast talent in question was aware of the scheme, according to The Athletic.

In total, the scheme resulted in at least thirty statuettes being presented to on-air presenters, who were effectively ineligible to receive them. The precise mastermind remains a mystery, but the motivation behind the plan appears to be an attempt to circumvent NATAS rules, which ban on-air hosts from being included in the credit list for the ‘outstanding weekly studio show’ award until 2023 . Hosts were always eligible for individual awards, but NATAS had denied them the opportunity to win a trophy for an entire show to avoid what it described as double dipping: being honored twice for the same work.

According to The Athletic, the operation wasn’t too sophisticated: ESPN would submit fake names to NATAS for the nominated programs, and after those fictional individuals won the awards, the network would collect them, have them re-engraved and present them to on-air personalities , including several hosts of College Gameday.

Desmond Howard and Chris Fowler of ESPN allegedly wrongly received Emmy Awards

In addition to ESPN agreeing to return the statuettes, network executive producers Craig Lazarus and Lee Fitting have been ineligible for future participation in the awards. Fitting was rejected by the network last summer – a move that the This is reported by the New York Post was prompted by the discovery of the scheme – and has since taken a job with the WWE.

According to The Athletic, ESPN personalities who wrongly received statuettes include college football analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard, anchors Tom Rinaldi, Sam Ponder, Chris Fowler and Shelly Smith, as well as reporter Gene Wojciechowski.

In any case, the fake name submitted by ESPN to NATAS closely resembled the name of the person who ultimately received the award: “Kirk Henry” for Kirk Herbstreit, “Lee Clark” for Lee Corso, and “Shelley Saunders” for Shelley Smith.

And it wasn’t just the hosts of College Gameday. SportsCenter’s Linda Cohn has officially won just one Emmy, but photographed her “Fab 4” statues in a celebratory Instagram post in November.

The Athletic also discovered several other alleged winners that could not be verified, including Erik Andrews (probably Erin Andrews) in 2011.

The real Andrews, who now works at Fox Sports, told The Athletic that she received an Emmy statuette in the mail around 2010 but was unaware it had been obtained unlawfully.

The real Erin Andrews (left), who now works at Fox Sports, told The Athletic that she received an Emmy statuette in the mail around 2010 but was unaware it had been obtained unlawfully

Jenn Brown, who left ESPN in 2013, told The Athletic that she also did not know the Emmy she received was illegally obtained.

“This is all news to me and a bit of a shame because there are people who think they were justified in having one,” Brown told The Athletic. “There are rules for a reason… it’s a shame that those rules have been abused for so many years.”

In reviewing credit lists from 2010 to 2018, The Athletic discovered more than thirty fictitious names, as well as several others that could not be identified, all of which were listed as “associated producers.”

When asked why ESPN would lie to NATAS, a person involved in the network’s Emmy submission process told The Athletic, “You have to remember that those personalities are so important, and they have an ego.”

Another high-ranking ESPN employee told The Athletic that network producers were obsessed with the Emmys and used them as evidence of their continued dominance in sports media.

ESPN host Linda Cohn has claimed to be a four-time Emmy winner, but has actually only won one

Cohn has only officially won one Emmy, but photographed her “Fab 4” statues on Instagram

“Some members of our team were clearly wrong to submit certain names that may date back to 1997 in Emmy categories where they were not eligible for recognition or statuettes,” the network said in a statement.

“This was a misguided attempt to identify individuals on air who were key members of our production team. Once the current leadership was notified, we apologized to NATAS for violating the guidelines and worked closely with them to completely overhaul our submission process to prevent something like this from happening again.

“We engaged outside counsel to conduct a full and thorough investigation and individuals found responsible were disciplined by ESPN.”

NATAS’ Adam Sharp also issued his own statement to The Athletic.

“NATAS has identified a number of fictional credits submitted by ESPN for multiple Sports Emmys competitions,” the statement said. “When the network was brought to the attention of ESPN’s senior management, it took steps to take responsibility for the actions of its staff, to conduct thorough investigations and to correct course.

“These steps include ESPN’s return of statuettes issued to fictional individuals and commitments to implement further internal accountability and procedural changes at the network.”