Sportscaster Erin Andrews ruffled some feathers with her coverage of a recent NFL game.
Meteorologist Sam Kuffel of Milwaukee-based news station CBS 58 called out Andrews, 46, for comments she made about the weather while covering the Sunday, November 3, Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers game.
“Begging Erin Andrews to stop making up weather alerts,” Kuffel wrote via X on Sunday, adding “stuff like this makes me irrationally angry” in a subsequent tweet.
Kuffel’s posts came after Andrews alluded to 43-mph wind gusts and a chance of thunder and lightning during the game, neither of which came to pass despite the rainy conditions at Green Bay, Wisconsin’s Lambeau Field.
“And 43 mph?! Specifically 🤨,” meteorologist and weather risk manager for DTN Tanner Verstegen wrote via X in response to Kuffel’s tweet.
“Right?!?!” Kuffel replied.
Andrews brought up the weather again while interviewing Lions quarterback Jared Goff after his team beat the Packers 24-14.
“These conditions were crazy,” Andrews said. “Massive wind gusts, rain going sideways, [Lions’ defensive coordinator] Aaron Glenn couldn’t see out of his glasses. Tell me what it was like playing in this.”
Goff, 30, replied that the game proved the Lions’ ability to play outside in inclement weather despite their home stadium, Ford Field, being domed.
“We’re supposed to be the dome team. We’re supposed to be the team that can’t play outside,” Goff said. “And we come out here and we win.”
Andrews, who has been the lead sideline reporter for Fox Sports’ NFL broadcasting team since 2014, previously sparked controversy for comments she made about embellishing reports.
After fellow sportscaster Charissa Thompson admitted during a 2022 episode of her and Andrews’ “Calm Down” podcast that she once “made up a report” after former Lions coach Rod Marinelli failed to give her any relevant quotes, Andrews said she could relate.
“I’ve done that too,” Andrews said at the time. “For a coach that I didn’t wanna throw under the bus because he was telling me all the wrong stuff.”
After the comments resurfaced in November 2023, Andrews’ spokesperson, Jill Fritzo, said in a statement, “For her entire career, Erin Andrews has worked very closely with coaches, players and P.R. staffs to ensure accuracy in her reporting.”
Fritzo added that Andrews meant to say that she used prior information from earlier meetings with coaches in her reports and is always “clear” about where her information comes from.
Thompson, 42, meanwhile, addressed the controversy via Instagram at the time.
“I have never lied about anything or been unethical during my time as a sports broadcaster,” the Thursday Night Football host wrote in a since-deleted post. “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.”