WWE Producer Lee Fitting Dismissed From ESPN Following Allegations of Misconduct

The Athletic has a new bombshell report about WWE producer Lee Fitting, who was allegedly dismissed from ESPN due to allegations of misconduct toward women. Fitting worked for ESPN for over 25 years until his exit in August 2023. He was subsequently hired by WWE in January. His ESPN work includes producinge College Gameday, and he was rumored to be up for head of programming.

The report notes that a complaint was filed against Fitting last year with human resources, which led to ESPN talking with several employees. That included “some promiennt female staffers.” The report notes:

Around 2012, some ESPN employees were watching the NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament from a conference room in Bristol when Fitting allegedly commented on a woman (who was not present and didn’t work at ESPN) and her ability to “open her throat” to down a beer, then joked that the woman would be good at performing fellatio, according to one person present. (The Athletic also spoke to a former ESPN employee who the person present told about the alleged comment.) Fitting, via his spokesperson, said this incident never happened.

In a production meeting around 2014, no chairs were available for a woman on staff. Fitting patted his lap and said to her: “I’ve got a seat right here for you,” according to one person in the room and another person who was told about the remark from another individual present. Fitting denied this allegation. One female ESPN employee said that Fitting sent her a text message around 2018 that read: “You look hot.” She showed the text to a producer, who recalled the woman’s hand shaking as she showed the producer the message.

On more than one occasion, he jokingly asked a female staffer for her hotel room number and also routinely joked about performing bed checks, according to “College GameDay” employees. Fitting denied those allegations. He also allegedly bragged about his and his wife’s robust sex life, according to multiple sources.

When he saw a woman in an outfit he liked, he’d let her know, sometimes in ways women and other employees found crude and/or humiliating. He once loudly exclaimed “Goddamn!” when a woman appeared on set in a skirt he liked. These types of comments were so frequent that one female “College GameDay” employee developed a strategy to blunt his behavior. Whenever he would say or do something inappropriate, she would open up a notebook and mimic writing something down. When Fitting would ask what she was doing, she’d respond: “Just jotting this down for the book.”

It was noted that women who worked for College Gameday or with Fitting in general felt pressured to go out for drinks and deal with his comments. They were worried if they didn’t “present as mmebers of the boys’ club”, they would be left out. Fitting would also say, “it’s okay, she’s one of the guys” to justify why his comments were okay. When one female employee left, Fitting reportedly said she was “no fun.” He also told women how to fix their hair, how much makeup to wear, what to wear and more. He also told them to hide parts of their body if he didn’t like it. One woman said that he told her to “put your hair up in a ponytail before I do it for you.” Another said that she was told not to laugh on air because her laugh was annoying.

Fitting was let go after an investigation. One of the women questioned said that things “finally caught up to him.” Fitting, through a spokesperson, denied some of the allegations and didn’t address others. A WWE spokesperson said the company had no comment.