ESPN returns 37 Emmys won using fake names: report

(KTLA) — The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) reports that it has recalled at least 30 Emmy Awards that were won by fake ESPN employees, then re-engraved and awarded to hosts who were ineligible for the award. . Report from “The Athletic”.

NATAS regained 37 awards given to its “College GameDay” program, which won multiple awards for outstanding weekly studio show.

At the time of the show's win, on-air talent won awards in other categories than in their individual categories “to prevent leading talent from winning two awards for the same work (referred to as 'double dipping' in the NATAS rulebook).” It was forbidden to do so, The Athletic report.

But to honor the on-air talent, ESPN executives included employees with names “similar to and with the same initials as the on-air personality's name,” according to Katie Strang's report.

“Since at least 2010, ESPN has been inserting fake names into Emmy Award entries, taking awards won by those fictional characters, re-engraving them, and giving them to on-air personalities,” Strang reported.

Among the winners of the award, which was intended for a fictitious “associate producer,” were network faces such as Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso, as well as reporters such as Shelley Smith and Gene Wojciechowski. .

The Athletic also analyzed social media posts by some broadcast talents about their Emmy wins and found that some, including SportsCenter anchor Linda Cohn, won awards they were not eligible for. did.

The winners either declined to comment or could not be reached by The Athletic. ESPN confirmed in a statement that it had brought in outside counsel to investigate and said “individuals found responsible have been disciplined by ESPN.”

“Some members of our team clearly erred in submitting certain names, which may date back to 1997, to the Emmy Awards category, where they are not eligible for recognition or statuettes,” the statement said. Stated. “This was a misguided attempt to recognize an on-air individual who is an important member of our production team. Once current leadership became aware of this, we apologized to NATAS for violating our guidelines. , we have worked closely with NATAS to overhaul our application process to ensure this does not happen again.”

As a result of the revelations, NATAS told The Athletic that ESPN executives were barred from future Emmy nominations, and “senior College GameDay executives” were also barred from this year's ceremony.

“It's unclear who led this project, but Craig Lazarus, vice president of original content and features and executive producer, and Lee, senior vice president of production, who oversaw 'College Game Day' and other properties. “Mr. Fitting was one of the employees of ESPN that NATAS ruled ineligible to participate in future Emmy Awards,” the report states.