ESPN gave Academy fake names to obtain more Emmy Awards for ineligible on-air talent: report

ESPN submitted fake names to the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), which oversees the Emmys, to receive more trophies for its on-air talent, according to a bombshell report on Thursday.

Since 2010, at least 30 trophies have been given to people who did not exist; the network then had them re-engraved and gave them to members of "College GameDay," The Athletic reported.

"NATAS identified a number of fictitious credits submitted by ESPN to multiple Sports Emmys competitions," said NATAS president and CEO Adam Sharp. "When brought to the attention of ESPN senior management, the network took steps to take responsibility for the actions of its personnel, to investigate thoroughly, and to course correct. These steps have included the return by ESPN of statuettes issued to fictitious individuals and commitments to implement further internal accountability and procedural changes at the network."

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"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," ESPN said in a statement. (Mike Windle/Getty Images for ESPN)

The Athletic noted that some of the on-air talent to get the statuettes were "ineligible" to receive them, so ESPN made up names to get extra trophies for them.

ESPN admitted in a statement that the plot "may go back to 1997."

"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," ESPN 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. We brought in outside counsel to conduct a full and thorough investigation, and individuals found to be responsible were disciplined by ESPN."

ESPN's "College GameDay" won eight Emmys for outstanding weekly studio show from 2008 to 2018. (VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

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On-air talents are eligible to earn statuettes if they win personalized awards, but not for anything won by the shows themselves, The Athletic says.

"College GameDay" won eight Emmys for outstanding weekly studio show from 2008 to 2018.

Many of the fake names were reportedly listed under "associate producers" that not only matched the initials of on-air talent, but a first or last name was changed on several occasions — Kirk Herbstreit was "Kirk Henry," Lee Corso was "Lee Clark," and Desmond Howard was "Dirk Howard."

"College Gameday" staff Desmond Howard, Rece Davis, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, along with celebrity guest picker former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, center, pick winners prior to the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Wisconsin Badgers at Solider Field in Chicago on Sept. 25, 2021. (Dan Sanger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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NATAS says 37 trophies have been returned so far.

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