Fox Sports host Charissa Thompson on Friday walked back her comments this week that she would sometimes “make up” reports when she was an NFL sideline reporter earlier in her career.

The remarks have drawn strong backlash from some current sideline reporters.

In an interview Wednesday with Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast, Thompson said: “I’ve said this before — I haven’t been fired for saying it — but I’ll say it again: I would make up the report sometimes.”

“Because the coach wouldn’t come out at halftime or it was too late,” Thompson explained. “And I was, like, I didn’t want to screw up the report. So I was, like, I’m just going to make this up.

“Because, first of all, no coach is going to get mad if I say, ‘Hey, we need to stop hurting ourselves. We need to be better on third down. Stop turning the ball over’ …. ‘and do a better job of getting off the field.’ Like, they’re not going to correct me on that. I’m like, ‘It’s fine. I will make up the report.’”

After a firestorm of criticism Thursday, Thompson took to social media Friday, saying she never lied in her reports or falsely attributed comments to coaches or players.

“I have a responsibility to myself and my employers to clarify what is being reported,” Thompson wrote in a post on Instagram. “ … Working in media I understand how important words are and I chose the wrong words to describe the situation. I’m sorry.

“I have never lied about anything or been unethical during my time as a sports broadcaster,” she added. “In the absence of a coach providing any information that could further my report I would use information that I learned and saw during the first half to create my report. For example if a team was 0 for 7 on 3rd down, that would clearly be an area they need to improve on in the second half. In these instances I never attributed anything I said to a player or coach.”

Neither Fox Sports nor Amazon — which Thompson also works for, contributing to its Thursday night NFL coverage — immediately replied to Spectrum News’ requests for comment Friday.

Thompson’s remarks Wednesday were not the first in which she claimed to have “made up” a report.

In a January 2022 episode of the “Calm Down” podcast that she co-hosts with Fox sideline reporter Erin Andrews, Thompson said during the Detroit Lions’ winless 2008 season, she once asked then-coach Rod Marinelli at halftime about adjustments the team should make.

“He goes, ‘That’s a great perfume you’re wearing,’” Thompson said. “I was like, ‘Oh [expletive].’ I was like, ‘This isn’t going to work.’" Literally, I’m like, ‘All right, I’ve got to make up a report.’ I’m not kidding. I made up a report.”

Andrews responded: “I’ve done that, too, for a coach that I didn’t want to throw under the bus because he was telling me all the wrong stuff.”

Several sideline reporters blasted Thompson’s comments on “Pardon My Take” and defended their profession.

“This is absolutely not ok, not the norm and upsetting on so many levels,” CBS Sports’ Tracy Wolfson wrote Thursday on X, formerly Twitter. “I take my job very seriously, I hold myself accountable for all I say, I build trust with coaches and never make something up. I know my fellow reporters do the same.

“Young reporters: This is not normal or ethical,” ESPN’s Molly McGrath posted on X. “Coaches and players trust us with sensitive information, and if they know that you’re dishonest and don’t take your role seriously, you’ve lost all trust and credibility.”

“THE privilege of a sideline role is being the 1 person in the entire world who has the opportunity to ask coaches what’s happening in that moment,” posted Laura Okmin, one of Thompson’s Fox colleagues. “I can’t express the amount of time it takes to build that trust. Devastated w/the texts I’m getting asking if this is ok. No. Never.”

Thompson wrote in her statement Friday that she has “nothing but respect for sideline reporters and for the tireless work they put in behind the scenes and on the field,” adding, “I am only appreciative and humbled to work alongside some of the best in the business and call them some of my best friends.”