ESPN Has Been Forced To Return 37 Emmy's After Being Caught Using Fake Names To Win The Awards
CNN - ESPN returned dozens of Emmy statues and “disciplined” employees after an investigation disclosed Thursday found that the sports network had submitted fake names to the awards organization in a bid to secure trophies for on-air personalities who had been ineligible to receive them.
The apparent fraud stretched back to 1997, ESPN said in a statement, acknowledging that members of its team “were clearly wrong” for concocting 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,” an ESPN spokesperson said in a statement. “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.”
The Athletic, which broke the story on the scheme Thursday, reported that over the years when ESPN was given the prestigious awards using the fictitious names, the broadcaster had them re-engraved and then handed them out to the personalities who had been ineligible to receive them.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which administers the Emmys, said it discovered the fraud, prompting an investigation. The Athletic reported that there was no evidence that the staffers who received the awards were aware of the behind-the-scenes fraud.
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There has got to be a mistake here.
A company with the utmost integrity, like ESPN, would NEVER!
ESPN has forever donned the cape of moral righteousness, lecturing from a high pedestal. But oh, how the mighty have stumbled, it appears!
The worldwide leader, in its grand theater of sports broadcasting, has always enjoyed playing the role of the ethical North Star. Lecturing on fairness, integrity, and the spirit of the game, they've been the self-appointed guardians of sportsmanship. Employing moral stalwarts like Jemele Hill (r.i.p.), Keith Olberman (r.i.p.), Sarah Spain, Sam Ponder, Rob Parker, Steve Phillips, Mina Kimes, to name just a few (shout out Sean Salisbury), it's been easy for them to look down their nose at everybody else.
Remember when they pointed fingers at the red-headed stepchild of the sports media world? Little old Barstool Sports? Waving the banner of integrity? Or how they abruptly cut ties with the "Pardon My Take" guys, citing 'differences in content'? Talk about a plot twist. While ESPN was busy playing the moral referee in the media world, it seems they were also crafting a side hustle in creative writing. Who knew ESPN had such a flair for fiction?
But this week, my oh my, how the turntables.
Emmy awards? Returned. The color of their faces? A shade of red that even their sports graphics department couldn’t replicate. It was like watching a replay of a fumbled play, except the fumble was their credibility. Their PR team, presumably not the same group behind the nomination genius, was left scrambling like Justin Fields on a jailbreak. The irony of it all? ESPN, who once severed ties with others, less favorable, for not aligning with their "standards," now faces the music for not practicing what they preach.
An ESPN spokesperson told CNN on Thursday that when its current leadership was made aware of the scheme, it hired an outside law firm to “conduct a full and thorough investigation” and that “individuals found to be responsible were disciplined by ESPN.”
Oh spare us that heaping mound of horseshit. This wasn't some intern or lower-level employee who came up with some hair-brained idea to scam the Emmy and impress the higher-ups. This shit was going on for 27 years now! That's what a learned scholar with a doctorate in psychology, or business ethics would call adopted or habitual behavior.
You guys got caught with your pants down doing something incredibly, incredibly lame.
Why didn't you just go on Amazon and order them and have those engraved, and hand those out? Would have been the same thing.
p.s. - never forget van talk