As we reported back in April, veteran Fox‘s NFL sideline reporter Pam Oliver, 53, was replaced by Erin Andrews, 36. Maybe, well let’s be honest, probably the problem is that “veteran’ sideline reporter description of Oliver.
As you can imagine, the move put a hurt on Oliver, who in her tell-all in the latest issue of Essence magazine, said the episode “humiliated” and “hurt.”
“Once the changes were announced, people started talking,” Oliver wrote in a first-person account for Essence. “Some asked, ‘Do you think it had something to do with your race?’ No. I definitely do not. Others asked, ‘Does it have something to do with your age?’ Well, maybe.”
Oliver covered the most recent Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium. But she isn’t out of a job. She will spend her 20th NFL season on the sidelines this fall. But of course she won’t be with the lead Fox play-by-play team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.
On top of that, this will be her final year covering the NFL before transitioning to Fox Sports 1.
Her replacement, Andrews, appeared on the reality show Dancing with the Stars in 2010 and was routinely named among TV’s sexiest sports personalities during her eight-year stint as an ESPN sideline reporter. Andrews also made headlines when a stalker posted nude video of her filmed through a hotel peephole in 2008.
Andrews jumped to Fox in June 2012, where she hosted the network’s college football studio show and was a regular on Fox NFL, baseball and NASCAR coverage.
Still, Oliver framed the change in duties with a tinge of bitterness.
“It’s not difficult to notice that the new on-air people there are all young, blond and ‘hot,’” Oliver wrote. “That’s not to say that Erin isn’t capable. I think she’s very capable. She’s also popular on Twitter and social media, so I can see how that would also make her highly sought after.”
Read Oliver’s FULL essay here.
