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Amazon Prime Video and FOX Sports host Charissa Thompson is under fire after she admitted to making up details during her previous job as a sideline reporter in an appearance on Barstool Sports' 'Pardon My Take' podcast this week.
Thompson, 41, acknowledged that her role was to give any details coaches told her just before the game or right after halftime, which would sometimes lead to a situation in which she'd have to fabricate a quote if she wasn't given one.
"I’ve said this before, so I haven’t been fired for saying it, but I’ll say it again," Thompson said. "I would make up the report sometimes because, A, the coach wouldn’t come out at halftime or it was too late and I was like, I didn’t want to screw up the report, so I was like, 'I’m just gonna make this up.'"
Thompson added that she didn't see any harm in giving the audiences made up quotes.
"No coach is gonna get mad if I say, 'Hey, we need to stop hurting ourselves, we need to be better on third down, we need to stop turning the ball over and do a better job of getting off the field,'" Thompson said. "Like, they’re not gonna correct me on that. I'm like it's fine, I'll just make up the report."
Several other sports journalists were critical of Thompson's comments, including ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath and The Athletic's New York Yankees beat writer Chris Kirschner.
"Young reporters: This is not normal or ethical. Coaches and players trust us with sensitive information, and if they know that you’re dishonest and don’t take your role seriously, you’ve lost all trust and credibility," McGrath wrote in response to an Awful Announcing article on her X account.
"A good portion of the public doesn’t trust the media as is. I cannot believe she would proudly admit this. This causes significant harm to the people who actually take the job seriously. It’s entirely unethical and worthy of never working in the field again," Kirschner wrote on his X account.
'Pardon My Take' host Dan 'Big Cat' Katz, shared a post defending Thompson, claiming critics "didn't listen to the whole clip."
"People piling on this Charissa clip are doing it for show. Absolutely insane overreaction and didn’t listen to the whole clip. People piling on to pile on. I may have to counteract the pile on and deploy Team Bart," Katz wrote on his X account.
Thompson had, as she acknowledged in the 'Pardon My Take' appearance, previously claimed to have made up reports as a sideline reporter during her 'Calm Down' podcast, which co-host and FOX Sports colleague Erin Andrews claimed she'd also done for a coach "that I didn't wanna throw under the bus."