It’s game over for two top ESPN execs whose illicit intra-office affair needlessly embarrassed the network at the height of the Steve Phillips scandal.
Katie Lacey, 44, the v.p. of marketing, was shown the door yesterday and her now-divorced lover, David Berson, 37, the once-influential v.p. of programming, was stripped of all responsibility, reports The Post’s Chuck Bennett.
“At the expiration of their contracts neither will be renewed,” said ESPN publicist Josh Krulewitz.
Within weeks of joining ESPN, Lacey began a relationship with the then-married-with-kids Berson, once ranked by BusinessWeek as the 73rd most powerful man in sports.
The two even expensed the hotel rooms they booked near the network’s Bristol, Conn., headquarters for their steamy liaisons, Lacey’s former executive assistant charged.
When apart, they exchanged racy e-mails on their corporate e-mail accounts. Berson lustily told her in one message that he wanted her lying on her back. He lamented his “fish belly” in another missive.
Berson divorced his wife in March.
His affair with Lacey remained an open secret among the top brass at the network until the Phillips scandal broke.
At the time, the network defended their relationship, but apparently something changed.
Phillips, the baseball analyst and former general manager of the Mets, was fired by ESPN last month, less than a week after admitting to an affair with production assistant Brooke Hundley, who was also canned.
PHOTOS: ESPN’S STEVE PHILLIPS IN FOUL AFFAIR
Hundley had begun calling Phillips’ wife, Marni, in August, detailing their affair. The calls were followed by a letter, and then a visit to the Phillips house in Wilton, Conn., on Aug. 19, when Marni called police.
The ESPN sex scandals have now cost four people their jobs.