WWE Head of Media and Production Lee Fitting Reportedly was Fired from ESPN Over Misconduct Allegations Towards Female Employees

As noted before, former ESPN Senior VP of Production Lee Fitting was hired by WWE this past January following his firing from ESPN in August of 2023. Following his firing from ESPN, Fitting was revealed to have been involved in a years-long Emmy Awards scandal revolving around ESPN falsely winning awards using fake names for entries for their College GameDay television series leading to Fitting being banned from future awards considerations.

The New York Times’ The Athletic reported that Fitting’s firing from ESPN in 2023 was due to an HR investigation into allegations of him committing misconduct within the company for years including making sexually suggestive comments and objectifying comments toward women employees.

It was reported that over 20 women were spoken to, of which six were part of ESPN’s HR investigation into the allegations against Fitting. Two ESPN executives spoken to stated that the investigation gave the company “little choice but to let Fitting go.”

Among the allegations included an incident in 2012 involving some ESPN employees watching the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament from a conference room in Bristol. Fitting reportedly allegedly commented on a woman, who was not present nor worked at ESPN, and her ability to “open her throat” to down a beer. One person spoken to reportedly stated that Fitting then joked that the woman would be good at performing fellatio. In an official statement, Fitting’s spokesperson denied that this incident had happened.

Another incident reportedly was stated to have taken place in 2014 during a production meeting and no chairs were available for a woman on the staff. Fitting allegedly patted his lap and told the woman “I’ve got a seat right here for you” based on one person spoken to who was present and another person who had been told of it from another individual present. In an official statement, Fitting denied this allegation.

One female employee spoken to reportedly stated that Fitting had sent her a text message in 2018 that read “You look hot.” This female employee showed the text to a producer, who stated that when interviewed that the woman’s hand was shaking as she showed them the message.

It was reported that several College GameDay employees spoken to stated that on more than one occasion, Fitting jokingly asked a female staffer for her hotel room number and also routinely joked about performing bed checks. In an official response, Fitting denied those allegations.

Fitting allegedly also bragged about his and his wife’s robust sex life to others based on multiple sources spoken to.

The report also detailed incidents of Fitting’s behavior towards women wearing an outfit he liked at work.

When he saw a woman in an outfit he liked, he’d let her know, sometimes in ways women and other employees found crude and/or humiliating. He once loudly exclaimed “Goddamn!” when a woman appeared on set in a skirt he liked. These types of comments were so frequent that one female “College GameDay” employee developed a strategy to blunt his behavior. Whenever he would say or do something inappropriate, she would open up a notebook and mimic writing something down. When Fitting would ask what she was doing, she’d respond: “Just jotting this down for the book.”

Many female employees who worked on College GameDay and under Fitting elsewhere in ESPN reportedly stated that they felt pressured to go out for drinks and tolerate the inappropriate remarks. Those spoken to stated that they worried that if they did not present themselves as a member of the “boys’ club” then they would be ostracized.

Those spoken to reportedly also stated that Fitting would routinely use a phrase of “It’s OK, she’s one of the guys” to justify sexual harassment comments being made towards female employees.

Many women who worked on “College GameDay” and under Fitting elsewhere at ESPN said they felt pressured to go out for drinks and tolerate the inappropriate remarks, worried that if they did not present as members of the boys’ club they’d be ostracized. Sometimes, before or after saying something crude or sexist, Fitting would use a phrase — “It’s OK, she’s one of the guys” — to justify why his remark was permissible, sources said. When one female employee left the show, Fitting dismissed her as “no fun” in front of a group of employees, according to one person present.

It was also reported that some of the women who appeared on camera for shows were told by Fitting how to style their hair, how much makeup to wear, what outfits he approved or approved for them to wear. Fitting allegedly was stated to sometimes reference aspects of their body that he advised them to conceal.

One woman said that one day, when she and Fitting were working in different locations, he had seen her on an in-house feed and texted her that he liked her hair in a ponytail. She brushed off the comment, but he texted again: “Put your hair up in a ponytail.” The woman replied that she had already been in hair and makeup for the day, to which she said Fitting responded: “Put your hair up in a ponytail before I do it for you.” (Fitting denied saying that he would put her hair up if she did not.)

Another woman said Fitting, in addition to commenting on her makeup and wardrobe, told her she should refrain from laughing on air because he found her laugh annoying. (The Athletic spoke with a person she later told about that exchange.)

“You already have these things in the back of your mind. And then when somebody doesn’t think you can advance in your career because you don’t check a box, that awareness can become an insecurity,” one woman said.

In an official statement, Fitting’s spokesperson stated that it was Fitting’s job to provide feedback to male and female on-air talents regarding their appearance and on-air delivery.

It was reported that Fitting commented so frequently on how women looked that judging women in that way became “ingrained in how he operated the show.” During shows in the production truck, Fitting reportedly would direct people to scan the crowd for “hot” women who could be shown on the broadcast based on multiple people spoken to.

One incident of this issue reportedly took place in 2012 for a College GameDay show taking place in October in South Bend, Indiana.

In 2012, “College GameDay” was in South Bend, Ind., for an October game between Notre Dame and Stanford. Fitting had an issue with the crowd shot behind the studio set: The Notre Dame cheerleaders in the shot were not attractive enough. They were no Oregon cheerleaders, he remarked. (Fitting had a particular fondness for the Oregon cheerleaders, multiple people said, citing comments he made about them that spanned years). As Fitting ordered the Irish cheerleaders cut from the shot, no one batted an eye.

One female ESPN employee spoken to reportedly stated that she asked to meet with Fitting to discuss career opportunities on three occasions. This employee stated that each time, Fitting asked her to meet with him for drinks and she declined. This employee stated that her reason for refusing Fitting’s requests was due to her being told by other women at ESPN to not meet with Fitting along outside of work. Another female employee spoken to reportedly stated “Women had warned each other to be conscious of interactions with him.” Fitting’s spokesperson responded to the allegations stating that it was common for him to get drinks with men and women as part of his job.

In the article, it was reported that Fitting “declined to comment on the broader characterization of him as someone who mistreated women during his tenure at ESPN or why he was let go by the network.”