Charissa Thompson, an NFL broadcaster issued an apology after acknowledging that she had made up stories while she was a sideline reporter in her early career.
“I haven’t been fired for saying it… I would make up the report sometimes,” Charissa Thompson said on a podcast released earlier this week, reported BBC.
Her remarks provoked a furious response from sports media professionals as well as some fans.
The anchor said on Friday that she had “never lied” and had used “the wrong words”.
“I understand how important words are and I chose the wrong words to describe the situation,” she wrote in a statement posted to Instagram. “I’m sorry. I have never lied about anything or been unethical during my time as a sports broadcaster.”
“In the absence of a coach providing any information that could further my report I would use information that I learned and saw during the first half,” she said.
In American football broadcasts, sideline reporters are essential because they provide real-time information from the field or nearby. They frequently divulge information that coaches provide them with during a game.
These days, Thompson, 41, mostly works as a host for Amazon and Fox Sports.
Thompson stated on Tuesday in an interview with Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast that occasionally “the coach wouldn’t come out at halftime, or it was too late and I didn’t want to screw up the report.” I decided to make this up, so to speak.
She said that in certain situations, she would frequently fall back on cliches.
“No coach is going to get mad if I say, ‘Hey, we need to stop hurting ourselves… and do a better job of getting off the field,” she said. “They’re not going to correct me on that.”
