ESPN’s dismissal of prime govt Lee Fitting — a senior vice chairman of manufacturing who had been on the firm for greater than 25 years — was a thriller for a lot of on the firm in August 2023.
Others have been shocked that it hadn’t occurred a lot sooner, in keeping with The Athletic, which reported Wednesday that Fittings’ dismissal occurred after an HR criticism about inappropriate habits in 2023.
Shortly after the criticism was made, an investigation passed off, which included ESPN officers questioning a number of workers, together with “some outstanding feminine staffers.”
A memo despatched by Norby Williamson, one other prime exec at ESPN, on Aug. 21, 2023, stated Fitting was “now not with the corporate” and ESPN can be “finalizing a brand new manufacturing construction” for the reveals he oversaw, together with “College GameDay” and “Monday Night Football.”
He was escorted out of the constructing by safety only one week earlier than the 2023 faculty soccer and NFL seasons.
Fitting joined WWE as the corporate’s head of media and manufacturing in January, 5 months after he was ousted at ESPN.
The Athletic spoke to greater than 20 ladies — together with six who participated within the community’s 2023 investigation — who described a office tradition below Fitting that had offensive and sexual language, together with lewd jokes about ladies and their look.
The ladies, who’re present and former workers of the community, requested anonymity as a result of they nonetheless work in sports activities media.
“I can’t consider it took this lengthy,” one girl stated.
“It lastly caught as much as him,” one other added.
Multiple individuals recalled incidents during which Fitting allegedly made feedback or gestures about ladies, together with occasions once they weren’t current — which Fitting denied.
Fitting additionally allegedly bragged about his and his spouse’s sturdy intercourse life, a number of sources informed The Athletic.
In 2012, some ESPN workers have been in a convention room in Bristol, Conn., to observe the NCAA males’s basketball event when Fitting allegedly made a remark a couple of girl — who was not current — and her skill to “open her throat” to down a beer, after which joked that the girl can be good at performing oral intercourse, in keeping with one individual current.
In 2014, there have been no chairs accessible for a lady to take a seat on throughout a manufacturing assembly, and Fitting patted his lap and stated to her: “I’ve received a seat proper right here for you,” an individual within the room stated.
One feminine ESPN worker stated Fitting informed her, “You look scorching,” in a textual content message despatched round 2018.
Another ESPN worker stated she was warned by different ladies to not meet with Fitting alone whereas exterior of labor.
“Women had warned one another to take heed to interactions with him,” she stated.
Some “College GameDay” workers stated Fitting would jokingly ask feminine staffers for his or her resort room quantity and infrequently joked about performing mattress checks.
A supply informed The Athletic that Fitting would make crude jokes in entrance of ladies, and he’d use the phrase, “It’s OK, she’s one of many guys.”
Other allegations embody Fitting texting an ESPN worker, “You look scorching,” and him insisting that an on-air expertise put on her hair in a ponytail earlier than telling her, “Put your hair up in a ponytail earlier than I do it for you,” which he denied.
Fitting declined to touch upon “the broader characterization of him as somebody who mistreated ladies throughout his tenure at ESPN or why he was let go by the community.”
According to The Athletic, the ladies affected by Fitting’s alleged habits felt as if they needed to keep quiet to maintain their jobs, not to mention advance professionally, at ESPN.
Fitting’s involvement within the notorious “College GameDay” Emmy scandal did play a “issue” in his dismissal, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported in January.
