As “egos” beat out ethics, the exposure of a years-long scheme to take home more honors left a major sports broadcaster returning dozens of awards.
Skirting the rules was central to an ESPN scheme wherein network executives were said to have used fake names to win Emmys for ineligible talent. So said The Athletic in a Friday report detailing how the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) had uncovered how nearly 40 trophies had been ill-gotten, potentially stretching back to the 90s.
“Since at least 2010, ESPN inserted fake names in Emmy entries, then took the awards won by some of those imaginary individuals, had them re-engraved and gave them to on-air personalities,” the outlet wrote as it explained that NATAS had reworked its verification process in 2022 and sought verification from ESPN on a series of names.
Central to the scheme was the “College GameDay” program where, until 2023, on-air talent were ineligible to receive awards in individual categories like studio analyst or outstanding host as well as for outstanding weekly studio show.
To get around that, talent like Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Shelley Smith and Gene Wojciechowski were listed as associate producers under aliases Lee Clark, Chris Fulton, Kirk Henry, Dirk Howard, Shelley Smith and Gene Wilson, respectively.
As a result, 37 statuettes have been returned thus far with more potentially still connected to the scheme.
“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,” said ESPN in a statement addressing the scandal. “This was a misguided attempt to recognize on-air individuals who were important members of our production team. 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.”
“We brought in outside counsel to conduct a full and thorough investigation and individuals found to be responsible were disciplined by ESPN,” they added.
This included the August termination of Lee Fitting, the New York Post reported, as the senior vice president of production for “College GameDay” and other programs had been unceremoniously let go before the award scheme’s publication.
Alongside Fitting, Craig Lazarus, vice president and executive producer of original content and features, and Drew Gallagher, a coordinated producer on “College GameDay,” were listed among those ineligible for future Emmys.
“You have to remember that those personalities are so important, and they have egos,” said a person involved in the ESPN Emmy submission process to The Athletic.
However, Smith pushed back on that, contending that it was the executives who were focused on the accolades. “It’s very important to the people who go (to the ceremony) and the old-school television guys,” she said.
Admitting, “I was happy to win the (2018) one,” she added, “But the other times (the trophy) would just show up and I wouldn’t even know I was supposed to get one.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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