How the ESPY Awards assembled 141 survivors of Larry Nassar's sexual abuse on stage

The Athletic

ESPN spent nearly $1 million to put together last week's powerful moment, with each victim receiving a custom bracelet with the word "Courage" inscribed on it. ESPYs executive producer Maura Mandt tells The Athletic that the moment had been in the works since January. Mandt says she and her team took as "much care as possible and in consultation with as many folks who understood this story that we could. When we had the number we tried to provide as much thought as we could to how to make this experience one that would be positive. We had everything from hair and makeup to crisis counselors to therapy dogs standing by to offer support. We had an entire operation for just this segment, with about 50-60 people just working on this."