Bob Costas: Vladimir Putin turned down NBC interview for Sochi Olympics

Tucker Carlson sparked debate this week after his interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. Critics accused him of granting Putin an unchallenged platform, while others questioned the value of engaging directly with the Russian leader. This debate extended to Bill Maher’s show, where he inquired about the potential merits of Carlson’s interview on the Overtime portion of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.

Maher’s panel of guests on his show included authors and commentators Caitlin Flanagan, Coleman Hughes, and Bob Costas. The segment addressed Tucker Carlson’s Putin interview, with Flanagan expressing strong disapproval of both the interview itself and the format under which it took place. That saw Maher accuse Carlson of being under Putin’s propaganda apparatus for a few years.

As the conversation took a more in-depth look at some of Putin’s factually incorrect claims, Costas elected to chime in about his experience with Putin, or lack thereof.

“For whatever it’s worth, when the Olympics were in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, we requested for many months prior to and during the games — whether it me be or someone from NBC News — and Putin turned that down flatly,” said Costas.

Flanagan joked that Putin was the one responsible for giving Costas pink eye.

“Yes, he did,” quipped the veteran sports broadcaster. “A whole cloak and dagger operation that Putin and KGB obviously undertook just to screw me up. People to this day, they’ll say — conversational icebreaker occasionally — ‘Bob, remember that time you had pink eye at the Olympics?’ ‘No, I don’t recall; refresh my memory.’ A 100 million people with memes all over the internet and ridiculous untrue theories as to how I contracted it. I have no idea. Remind me again what that was!”

Even years later, Costas remains uncertain about the source of his pink eye infection at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. But he still seems to harbor a similar stance against Putin. He called the Russian president a “villain” and railed against his human rights record during NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics almost a decade ago, so he’s maintained consistency here.

[Real Time with Bill Maher]