Less than 24 hours after Amazon Prime Video Thursday Night Football host Charissa Thompson touched off a scandal by claiming to have made up reports as a sideline reporter, she issued a statement attempting to “clarify what is being reported.”
The Charissa Thompson statement
In the statement posted to her Instagram story and widely shared on social media, h/t Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team, Thompson addressed “the elephant in the room,” less than 12 hours after going off the air following the Baltimore Ravens-Cincinnati Bengals Thursday Night Football game.
“Ok, let’s address the elephant in the room. I have a responsibility to myself and my employers to clarify what is being reported,” Thompson wrote. “When on a podcast this week, I said I would make up reports early in my career when I worked as a sideline reporter before I transitioned to my 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.”
“In the absence of a coach providing any information that could further my report I would use information that I learned and saw during the first half to create my report. For example, if a team was 0 for 7 on 3rd down, that would clearly be an area they need to improve on in the second half. In these instances, I never attributed anything I said to a player or coach.”
“I have nothing but respect for sideline reporters and for the tireless work they put in behind the scenes and on the field. I am only appreciative and humbled to work alongside some of the best in the business and call them some of my best friends.”
Thompson stops short of actually apologizing for making up reports but does say “I’m sorry” for choosing the wrong words to describe what she admits she used to do. We’ll see if the hordes of media personalities and sideline reporters who came after the Amazon Prime Video host following these comments are appeased by this Charissa Thompson statement.
How the scandal started
The whole Charissa Thompson scandal started on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast, where the 41-year-old host and former sideline reporter said she used to “make up” reports.
“I — and I’ve said this before, so I haven’t been fired for saying it, but I’ll say it again — I would make up the report sometimes because A, the coach wouldn’t come out at halftime or because it was too late and I was like, I didn’t want to screw up the report, so I was like, ‘I’m just gonna make this up.’” she said. “Because first of all, no coach is gonna 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. Like, they’re not gonna correct me on that. So, it’s fine. I’m just going to make up the report.”
There has been no official response from Amazon Prime Video as of Friday afternoon.
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