Leslie Jones loves the Olympics as much or more than just about any celebrity, maybe even more than some of the actual competitors.
For years now, the actress and former SNL star has offered live commentary and reaction to the Olympics as they unfold, inarguably increasing the awareness of the Olympics among a non-sports following that might not otherwise consume any of the events.
Jones has been doing the same thing for Beijing so far, but today posted on Instagram that she might have reached the end of her patience and enthusiasm for doing it despite still loving the actual event.
View this post on Instagram
A transcript:
“I’m starting to feel like this should be the last Olympics I live tweet. I know, another celebrity bitching. But I’m tired of fighting the folks who don’t want me to do it. They block my videos and they get folks who think they can do it like me. And I’m tired of fighting them. I love the athletes and they love me doing it. And I know y’all love it but now it’s just gotten too hard. And no one is fighting for or with me. Soooo I guess I’ll leave it to the professionals. But thank you for all the love.”
As to the note about hiring folks who think they can do it like me, that could be a reference to Peacock running a highlights show with Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg. Jones addressed that in particular in a comment on an earlier post when Holly Robinson Peete said Jones should have a Peacock show like that:
“not like, should be doing it period. You think Kevin and snoop give a fuck about athletes and Olympics? Honestly I think this should be my last one.”
Obviously, the Olympics and NBC specifically are incredibly vigilant about DMCA claims for Olympic coverage, but you’d think there would be a way to reach some sort of official deal with Jones (who, again, was a longtime key part of one of NBC’s most visible shows) for her Olympics content. By taking this strict stance there’s a chance of losing more potential audience than they’d gain by being so restrictive.
This shouldn’t be that hard.
UPDATE: It was not that hard after all. NBC spokesman Greg Hughes said Monday night that the blocked videos were the result of a “third-party error” and not NBC.
“We have resolved the situation. She is free to do her social media posts as she has done in the past,” Hughes told The Associated Press. “She is a super fan of the Olympics and we are super fans of her.”
