WWE Media & Production Head Ineligible For Emmys Over Scheme, ESPN Issues Statement

UPDATE: ESPN has issued a statement regarding the report from The Athletic that revealed a scheme involving new WWE Media & Production Head Lee Fitting to secure awards for ESPN College GameDay talent. The network issued a statement to the New York Post which read:

“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. 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.”

The Post’s Andrew Marchand also reports that the scheme was a factor in why Fitting left ESPN in August, writing on Twitter:

“It’s been a bit of a mystery as to why Lee Fitting was let go by ESPN this summer, but I’m told the Emmy trophy name changing scheme was a factor in his dismissal.

Fitting was just hired by WWE as its head of media media and production.”

It's been a bit of a mystery as to why Lee Fitting was let go by ESPN this summer, but I'm told the Emmy trophy name changing scheme was a factor in his dismissal.

Fitting was just hired by WWE as its head of media media and production.

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) January 11, 2024

ORIGINAL: Lee Fitting, the new head of WWE’s Media & Production teams, has been ruled ineligible for future Emmy participation due to a scheme to secure awards for ESPN College GameDay stars. The Athletic reports that Fitting, who was an SVP of Production for ESPN until he was released in August and oversaw College GameDay among his productions, was named in a scheme where ESPN was inserting fake names in Emmy entries in order to assign those Emmys won to on-air personalities.

According to the report, ESPN used fake names in the Emmy entries and then had the Emmy statuettes that they won re-engraved before handing them to the on-air personalities. ESPN changed the names of several hosts and labeled them as affiliated producers. Kirk Herbstreit was referenced as “Kirk Henry,” for example, and Lee Corso was “Lee Clark.” The move would allow those working on the show to be recognized, as the hosts weren’t eligible for credit list inclusion until last year. There’s no evidence suggesting the on-air talent knew their Emmys were improperly obtained.

The scheme was uncovered after the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences contacted ESPN to verify names in 2022. ESPN admitted to using false names. As a result, Fitting was deemed ineligible for future Emmy participation among the punishments given.

Fitting was hired on Tuesday as the new Head of Media & Production, taking many of the responsibilities filled by Kevin Dunn.