Kirk Herbstreit said he was “naive to the whole thing” while discussing the infamous ESPN Emmys scandal, which was revealed in January.
ESPN acquired 30 Emmys for on-air talent, including “College GameDay” hosts Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Chris Fowler and Desmond Howard, ineligible to receive the awards in a 13-year scheme — during which ESPN used fake names in Emmy entries, then took the awards won by some of those made-up individuals and had them re-engraved to distribute to on-air personalities, according to The Athletic.
During Wednesday’s installment of “The Pat McAfee Show,” Herbstreit, who has served as an analyst on “College GameDay” since 1996, explained that he had eight of his 13 Emmy awards removed from his home in Nashville while he wasn’t present due to traveling.
“I had eight [Emmys] taken out of my house,” Herbstreit said. “… I was naive to the whole thing. I thought obviously the people on the set would get an Emmy. So all of these years, I didn’t know what was going on. I was not privy to that information.
“… Then the last year or two they said ‘that was not supposed to go to you guys on the set,’ so we gotta take them all back. I was like, ‘I’m not at my house in Nashville,’ and they were like, ‘OK, no problem.’
“They went down and got them and took right of my 13 out of the house… I think after that they changed the rule and now if ‘GameDay’ wins one — now I think guys like you, all of the schleps, guys like me and you, Des, Rece [Davis] and coach [Nick Saban] legally get one.”
Herbstreit was referring to a new rule established in 2023 that hosts, analysts and reporters on “College GameDay” can now take home an individual Emmy for a win by the show.
Prior to then, on-air talent were prohibited by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) from being included in a credit list in that category because on-air talent could also win individual awards, such as outstanding host, studio analyst or emerging on-air talent.
The rule was to prevent on-air talent from “double-dipping,” per the NATAS guidelines.
McAfee joined “College GameDay” as a weekly analyst in September 2022, followed by Saban, who started his analyst role in 2024.
Herbstreit’s name, among others, were altered to include their correct first name and a fake last name.
His false name submitted in the ESPN Emmys scheme was “Kirk Henry.”
ESPN’s Emmy submission for “College GameDay” included fake names as recent as 2020, when the show did not win, according to an investigation by The Athletic.
ESPN disciplined members of its staff who were involved in the Emmys submission for on-air personnel not eligible for the awards.
