Charissa Thompson: NFL broadcaster faces backlash for making up quotes

An NFL broadcaster has broken her silence after facing backlash for admitting that she fabricated news reports during her time as a sideline reporter.

Charissa Thompson said she "would make up quotes sometimes" but "never lied".

She said she had chosen "the wrong words" when she revealed on Tuesday she invented quotes from coaches when she could not speak to them or get answers.

Her Tuesday confession had drawn strong rebukes from several of her peers.

Sideline reporters play a key role in American football broadcasts, complementing the work of the commentary booth with live updates from on or near the field with any details coaches tell them during the course of the game.

Speaking to Barstool Sports' Pardon My Take podcast on Tuesday, Ms Thompson said: "I've said this before. I haven't been fired for saying it, but I'll say it again. I would make up the report sometimes."

She explained that "the coach wouldn't come out at halftime, or it was too late and I didn't want to screw up the report. So I was like, I'm just going to make this up".

Ms Thompson, 41, a host and broadcaster for Fox Sports as well as a presenter on Amazon Prime Video's Thursday Night Football show, said she would rely on clichés in those moments.

"No coach is going to get mad if I say, '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," she argued. "They're not going to correct me on that."

Laura Okmin, a Fox Sports colleague and the third-longest-tenured sideline reporter in league history, slammed Ms Thompson in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"THE privilege of a sideline role is being the 1 person in the entire world who has the opportunity to ask coaches what's happening in that moment," she wrote.

"I can't express the amount of time it takes to build that trust. Devastated w/the texts I'm getting asking if this is ok. No. Never."

Molly McGrath, a Sports Emmy nominated ESPN college football reporter, warned young journalists such behaviour was "not normal or ethical".

"Coaches and players trust us with sensitive information, and if they know that you're dishonest and don't take your role seriously, you've lost all trust and credibility," she said.

Ms Thompson, who began working at Fox Sports in 2006, first made the confession last year in a January 2022 episode of her own podcast, Calm Down with Erin and Charissa.

The Seattle, Washington native revealed that, as a young reporter covering the Detroit Lions in 2008, she had asked then-head coach Rod Marinelli: "What adjustments are you going to make at halftime?"

"He goes, 'That's a great perfume you're wearing.'" she continued. "I was like, 'Oh [expletive], this isn't going to work.' I'm not kidding. I made up a report."

Co-host Erin Andrews, a former sideline reporter herself, agreed: "I've done that, too. For a coach that I didn't want to throw under the bus because he was telling me all the wrong stuff!"

"You're not going to say anything that's going to put them in a bad spot," Ms Thompson added.

Morgan Uber, of ESPN, argued that Ms Thompson's comments undermined other women "in a profession that is already stereotyped as just being "eye candy"".

"Good sideline reporters do their homework, talk to players and coaches throughout the week & on game day and most definitely don't make up reports," she said.

"There's still journalism involved, despite what you may think."

In a post on Instagram on Friday, Ms Thompson wrote that the comments only applied to a period early in her career before she transitioned to her current host role.

"Working in media I understand how important words are and I chose the wrong words to describe the situation. I'm sorry. I have never lied about anything or been unethical during my time as a sports broadcaster," she said.

She added that, when players or coaches were not available to provide information, she "would use information that I learned and saw during the first half to create my reports".

Representatives for Fox Sports and Amazon Prime did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.