Leslie Jones Pressured To Not Live Tweet The Olympics: ‘It’s Just Gotten Too Hard’
U.S. comedian Leslie Jones posted to Twitter Monday saying that the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics could be the last Olympics she ever live-tweets, citing pressure from outside sources and a lack of support for her work.
“I’m tired of fighting the folks who don’t want me to do it,” Jones, 54, wrote. “It’s just gotten too hard. And no one is fighting for or with me.”
Jones did not specify who was pressuring her to stop live-tweeting, though some suspect that because she tagged NBC in a similar Instagram post on the matter that it could be the Olympics broadcaster giving her heat.
NBC did clarify that Jones can keep live-tweeting the Olympics at her pleasure after the broadcasting company started off the two-week event in Beijing with record-low ratings.
An NBC spokesperson told CNN Business that blocking of her videos “was the result of a third-party error, and the situation has been resolved. [Jones] is free to do her social media posts as she has done in the past. She is a super fan of the Olympics, and we are super fans of her.”
The NBC spokesperson did not elaborate on what the “third-party” error meant. NBC owns the rights to Olympic broadcasting in the U.S. and recently paid another $7.7 billion to cover the Olympics exclusively through 2032.
Jones’ complaints also go beyond her content and potentially being blocked by NBC however. She states she does not feel supported by the network and feels she should be.
The comedian has around 1.4 million followers on Twitter, 1.1 million followers on TikTok and 1.6 million followers on Instagram.
Some have pointed out that NBC should pay Jones for her commentary or NBC should include her more in the Olympic commentary alongside professionals, but NBC seems to be unwilling to do that.
"I want to live in a world where Leslie Jones has a $100 million contract and Joe Rogan is the one saying no one is fighting for him," one Twitter user wrote.
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