Charissa Thompson and Erin Andrews ignore sideline reporter controversy on podcast

After sparking a recent firestorm for her comments about sideline reporting, Charissa Thompson avoided the topic on her weekly podcast with Erin Andrews.

Two weeks ago, during an appearance on Barstool’s Pardon My Take podcast, Thompson discussed her previous sports media role as a sideline reporter, admitting there were times she made up some of her reports.

“I’ve said this before,” Thompson acknowledged. “I haven’t been fired to 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 it was too late and I didn’t want to screw up the report. So I was like, ‘I’m just gonna make this up.’”

The admission garnered vitriol from the sports media world, with thousands of journalists, media personalities, sideline reporters and hosts weighing in to express that they viewed Thompson’s practice as unethical.

Calm Down with Erin and Charissa seemed like the perfect opportunity for Thompson to address the backlash, especially since they previously addressed the topic on their show. Nearly two years ago, Thompson and Andrews both admitted there were times they took liberties with some of their sideline reports. While Thompson previously alluded to paraphrasing or embellishing what coaches told her, this time, however, she garnered much more backlash by admitting to completely making up a sideline report.

Thursday morning, the podcast released its first episode since the controversy and both hosts opted against responding to previous admissions of making up or embellishing sideline reports. In the wake of the backlash, Thompson put out a statement to “address the elephant in the room” where she clarified that she never “lied about anything or been unethical during my time as a sports broadcaster.” A spokesperson for Andrews similarly attempted to temper the sideline reporter’s previous comments on embellishing reports.

But the levity Thompson and Andrews used to describe some of their past reports annoyed a lot of their peers and it probably warranted some sort of public response beyond a written statement. No one expected them to address the controversy on national TV, but on their podcast? The podcast that’s described as being “all about the conversations you would have with your friends when you think others aren’t listening.” Are we supposed to believe Thompson didn’t discuss the controversy she created in the last two weeks when she believed others weren’t listening? But as soon as Thompson and Andrews knew others would be listening, that conversation stopped.

[Calm Down with Erin and Charissa]