Charissa Thompson made a very controversial admission this week about her work practices as an NFL sideline reporter, and one of her industry colleagues was not amused.
Thompson discussed her time as a sideline reporter during an appearance on the “Pardon My Take” podcast. She said there were instances where she completely fabricated sideline reports because coaches did not provide her with any material to share on the air.
“I would make up the reports sometimes because the coach wouldn’t come out at halftime or it was too late and I didn’t want to screw up the report,” Thompson recalled. “So I was like, ‘I’m just gonna make this up.’ Because, first of all, no coach is gonna get mad if I say (they said), ‘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.’ They’re not gonna correct me on that so I’m like, ‘It’s fine, I’ll just make up the report.'”
Thompson, who currently works for Fox Sports and Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football,” said that is not the first time she made that admission, which is true. It may have been the first time Molly McGrath heard it, however.
McGrath, a sideline reporter for ESPN, called Thompson out via X.
Thompson did not say all sideline reporters do that, though her podcast co-host Erin Andrews did admit to also making things up when the discussion came up the first time.
You can understand why McGrath was bothered by the admission. Thompson probably felt comfortable discussing her little trick of the trade in the relaxed “Pardon My Take” setting, but many fans will see that and now assume all sideline reporters make up information. That is not the best look for the industry.
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