The colossal ESPN scandal: For years it won more than 30 Emmy Awards using fake host names

American Sports Network ESPN has cheated Emmy organizers for years to obtain dozens of awards from the prestigious television institution, according to The Athletic, the New York Times supplement.

According to The Athletic’s investigation, after fraudulently winning the awards, ESPN altered them to give them to real personalities from the television network.

The fraudulently obtained statuettes were returned by ESPN to the Emmy organizers. In total this emerged ESPN has won more than 30 Emmy Awards using fake names for on-air talent.

How the deception was organized

The fraud to deceive the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), which awards the Emmys, began in 2010 and allowed ESPN to appear in different categories with the same people, which was not allowed.

One of the ESPN programs most implicated in the scandal was College game daywhich became one of the most successful chains.

Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard, Samantha Ponder, among others, received modified Emmy Awards. According to a source from The Athletic who remained anonymous, “there is no evidence that the people who received the statuettes were aware that the awards given to them had been obtained improperly.”

The most discussed program University… won several Emmys until 2018, all awards that were given to executive producers who didn’t exist but they had the same initials as the presenters and analysts who appeared in front of the cameras and who could not apply for the awards.

It was the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences itself that discovered the fraud and launched an investigation.

“NATAS has identified a number of fictitious credits presented by ESPN at numerous Emmy sports competitions,” said Adam Sharp, president and CEO of the organization in an email sent to The Athletic editorial team.

“When it was brought to the attention of ESPN senior management, the network took steps to take responsibility for the actions of its staff, thoroughly investigate and course-correct. These measures included ESPN’s return of the statuettes issued to fictitious entities and commitments to implement greater internal accountability and procedural changes in the network.”

The chain admitted to the fraud

In a statement from ESPN to The Athletic, The chain acknowledged the participation of its staff in the deception.

“Some members of our team clearly made a mistake by submitting some names, which may date back to 1997, in Emmy categories where they qualified for awards or statuettes,” ESPN said.

But the network also somewhat justified the actions, saying it was a “misguided attempt to recognize hosts who were important members” of ESPN.

For its part, NATAS assured that after discovering the fraud it contacted the management of ESPN, which “took responsibility for the actions of its staff, to thoroughly investigate and correct” the fraudulent activity.