So for those who've been hearing about the ESPN award scandal but don't know the details, here's a basic explanation:
If an ESPN show like College Gameday (focal point of the drama) were to win an Emmy, the actual award statuettes were supposed to go to the show's producers.
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences would get the info on who those producers were from ESPN after the fact (a procedure that apparently didn't require much verification).
What the ESPN employees behind the scam were doing was giving the Academy phony info, names of people who didn't really exist but whose monikers might sound similar to actual on-air personalities.
Those trophies would then be re-engraved to make it look like they were won by the on-air people, thus allowing the actual producers (and the network itself) to brag about their "award winning talent".
Examples cited by The Athletic included:
Kirk Henry (Kirk Herbstreit)
Lee Clark (Lee Corso)
Dirk Howard (Desmond Howard)
Tim Richard (Tom Rinaldi)
Steven Ponder (Sam Ponder)
Gene Wilson (Gene Wojciechowski)
Chris Fulton (Chris Fowler)
Shelley Saunders (Shelley Smith)
Erik Andrews (Erin Andrews)
Wendy Nickson (Wendi Nix)
Jenn Brownsmith (Jenn Brown)
Not terribly imaginative if you ask me, but I digress...
To be clear, the report states that the on-air people who received the fake awards were actually not in on the scam. They'd just be told they won an Emmy and think "Oh cool, didn't even know I was up for one".
The goal was to add prestige to the network and its programming, especially those run by the producers in question, by artificially inflating the number of awards won.
One executive (who was not involved) provided the following quote:
"(S)ome company leaders were obsessed with the Emmys, using the numbers of wins each year to prove their dominance over competitors.“
Obviously that's backfired, and even the recipients of the phony awards are pissed about it.
So now, "The Worldwide Leader in Sports" has award winning egg on its face...and Pat McAfee has plenty of new material (as well as reason to laugh hysterically)
Full story here:
ESPN used fake names to secure Emmy awards for College Gameday stars
