RIO BOUND BABY USA! USA!! pic.twitter.com/Gkaxr2UOPl
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) August 8, 2016
It’s official, Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones’s infectiously enthusiastic live tweets of the Olympics have earned her a spot in Rio, where she will join NBC’s coverage. Yesterday we reported that Leslie’s support of team USA got her an official invite to Rio from NBC Olympics executive producer, Jim Bell. This is especially heartwarming considering that Leslie quit Twitter over racist abuse about three weeks ago. She came back after they took care of the trolls and she’s been following the games closely and cheering on the US athletes. She posts videos with voiceover covering the competitions and she wonders aloud about the rules of some of the more obscure sports, like handball. Her tweets on handball in particular are just hilarious (however they contain F-bombs and are NSFW). The Hollywood Reporter has confirmation that Leslie will go to Rio on Friday for NBC, where she’s already under contract for Saturday Night Live:
Jones, a breakout castmember of NBC’s Saturday Night Live and co-star of this summer’s Ghostbusters, is on her way to Brazil to help the network with coverage as a contributor. She’ll add her own flare and excitement in person just as she has been doing on social media since the Olympics started this week, a rep for NBC told The Hollywood Reporter.
Jones shared the news she was going to Rio over social media on Monday, but she did not specify what she will be doing.
The comic recently added to her already large Twitter following when she began to post enthusiastic messages and videos about the Games. Her excitement was so infectious, NBC Sports’ Olympics executive producer Jim Bell invited her to attend. Her role is being described as a “contributor” who will attend events and post on social media, in addition to making appearances on NBC’s various Olympics-related programs.
Jones will be in Rio by Friday, sources say.
Leslie has accepted the invitation to Rio but she hasn’t changed her tweeting style at all, which is kind of awesome. They’ve surely told her to cut the swearing when she takes on official coverage duties, but she’s continuing to swear on her personal account as usual. NBC is doing the right thing by hiring Leslie. Their commentators have been criticized for sexist coverage of female Olympians, which seems to be a strategic decision by male executives to lure advertisers while discrediting the women who compete in and watch the games. Leslie just celebrates their incredible athleticism.
I hope by hiring Leslie NBC is signifying that they’ve noticed the criticism and are moving in a different direction. I can’t wait to see her there! Take note, NBC, this is what women want, immediate coverage of events and an appreciation of the achievements, skill and dedication of the athletes, not some narrative that pre-empts live coverage with stories about how female athletes owe their successes to the men in their lives.
Nice ending to awesome day!! pic.twitter.com/OItVfCp3Xt
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) August 9, 2016
I mean how much rhythm you have to have to do this OMG!! pic.twitter.com/ypGiwcvVZb
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) August 9, 2016
Aggressive. And she got a sword! pic.twitter.com/1QgS39zwqX
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) August 8, 2016
THATS HOW YOU DO IT!! pic.twitter.com/5qcjmGFDrN
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) August 8, 2016
photos credit: WENN and FameFlynet
One: I want that fox blouse.
Two: the coverage will be infinitely more enjoyable come Friday. Matt lauer and the ladies are so boring! Leslie will spice up the coverage for sure.
Fox blouse is perfection! (Like gum) rock it Leslie!
Watch out, Costas! She’s coming for you! And long past about time!
Handball is not an obscure sport. At least not for Europe. And the people that play it are extremely cool.
It’s definitely obscure in the US. My son pointed out a group of boys at our high school who play it every day after school for fun and conditioning…I honestly thought it was something they just made up. I was shocked to learn it’s an Olympic sport. I’m wondering how people in the US get involved with it — it’s not a high school sport and I’ve never heard of any clubs around me. I’m guessing maybe it’s available at the collegiate level? *off to do some research*
Maybe it’s because I’m European and have therefore always been exposed to it, but I fail to see how handball can be more complicated than baseball or american football to understand. It’s all pretty clear, but again, might just be because I’m used to it ! Also, this is an awesome sport, so dynamic and entertaining, I love watching it during the Olympics
It might depend on where you live in the US. One of my favorite memories recently visiting NYC is sitting on a bench at a LES park and watching the young kids – both boys & girls – playing handball against the concrete backboards.
On a related note – does anyone remember jai alai ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_alai
Yeah, I don’t think it’s hard to understand…once you get past the shock of realizing this exists, lol. I have been enjoying watching it, too. My kids play water polo and it reminds me a lot of water polo on land.
Maire3, I remember handball against walls in parks in Chicago, too. But this is a very different sport. A basketball/soccer type of hybrid with goals, no backboards involved.
Esmom. Wow, I was not aware – Thx. (and I just googled “Olympic Squash” to see if the setup was different as well)
Marie3 – I totally remember Jai Alai!
It probably helps though that I live in Miami where we have a once popular fronton (the game is still played here but the place was converted into a Casino). Also, growing up, at the height of Jai Alai’s popularity, my friend’s older sister and her friends used to date some of the players (many were Basque).
It is actually an exciting game to watch.
It’s the no.3 sport here in Croatia ( after football and basketball for men, maybe no.1 for women) and it’s amazing I think it’s called Team Handball in the US, to differentiate it from whatever you people do with a wall. I think Americans woukd like it, it’s very fast, very aggressive, lots of points.
But calling a sport obscure from people who play baseball and American football is a bit rich 😀
Speaking of water polo, it’s probably the hardest team sport to play, isn’t it?
LOL, this is why the Olympics are great.
Sometimes you discover new sports and sometimes you find out that for some parts of the world, the sport you played since you were a kid, is totally unknown and weird.
Water polo is also amazing and so much fun.
“To differentiate it from whatever you people do with a wall”
This cracked me up and creates even more hilarious mental images of stupid acts involving walls.
“to differentiate it from whatever you people do with a wall.” Lol, LL.
And yes water polo is incredibly difficult, you need to be a really good swimmer who also has good ball handling skills, not an easy combo to find. It reminds me of hockey where the skating alone is amazing feat, let alone trying to score a goal while fighting off really aggressive competitors. So much goes on under the water that onlookers can’t see.
How popular is water polo in the US? I always hear about it as a popular college sport, so I’m surprised you guys aren’t dominating in it. Especially because you are really great in water sports.
Anyway, I hope that the defending Olympic champions win gold again 😀
LL, I would not call water polo popular in the US, it’s pretty obscure. Our school and town are not aquatic-centric so we don’t get too many kids going out for it. It’s only been a varsity sport at our school for 8 years, same as lacrosse. And the really good swimmers tend to stick with swimming year round, so they don’t even play polo. But it gives my kids lots of playing time, which they love! It is bigger at the collegiate level. But we just don’t have Serbia and Croatia’s history of excellence. Yet. 🙂
Yay! I love Leslie Jones!
And now NBC’s Olympic coverage won’t suck.
+1 It is really going to make a difference. A good one. Might even watch it now.
I may have to watch NBC coverage just to see Leslie. She’s a gem. I turned on the alerts for her Twitter account because it’s just too funny to see her enthusiasm for Rio. Go Leslie
This is great news & a cool tall glass of social media lemonade for Leslie. Now I gotta tune in.
This is so fantastic! Leslie!!!! Who hoo! Show NBC how to have fun.
“She’ll add her own flare..” Really, HR? Grr.
Anyway, I’m glad she’s doing this, I bet she’ll be great, a refreshing counterpoint to the lame talking heads and commentators I’ve been hearing so far.
Ha! I have just explained poor NBC coverage to my tribe of tweens, who have taken root here for ‘lympics watching. And OMG! I got a tirade of junior anti-Americanism. There’s one thing you can’t say about the yoof of my village: that they are short of opinions, however obnoxious.
“That’s because everyone knows Americans only really care about sports only they play. Then declare themselves world champions of them because there isn’t any opposition.”
HAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry, American Celebitches. I have told them they might like to keep a weather eye on the medal table and that I shall grass them up to all my online American friends hereabouts. Have at them. Let’s see if they can take it as well as give it. You never know, they might even sulk and decamp somewhere else for once!
Sixer, how old are the Sixlets? They sound adorable.
Doesn’t everyone pay more attentionto sports they’re good at? Maybe not on a personal level, but on a national one? I mean, Alpine Skiing for an example only became popular here after Janica Kostelić. And of course more coverage is given to sports where Croats play. I’m not gonna hold it against Americans. Although, calling something you play the World Series is a bit much.
They are not-quite-teen and just-teen. I’m not sure adorable is as accurate a description as gobby would be. But I like ’em like that, so all is well. In their defence, I will say that the anti-Americanism came from the little herberts who live up the road. The Sixlets weren’t doing any gainsaying, however.
I concur vis a vis sports. As evidence, I present to you: cricket.
(Currently, they are pretending to be knowledgeable about rowing, while I am TRYING to do my accounts.)
Leslie Jones is my new hero. How amazing would it be if she replaced Matt Lauer on his own show permanently? I loved her in Ghostbusters (and I liked the movie a lot more than I would have thought given the reviews). It’s always been a pet theory of mine that male reviewers rate female movies (however you want to define that) one star lower because of the gender tax (I once thought this was unabashed sexism but now I believe it’s more subtle than that–some white, male reviewers just don’t “get” or appreciate women’s movies). This is why we need more diversity in movie reviewers.
I agree. And “gender tax”, I’m stealing that one.
I love her.
Good for her. And yeah, WTF is up with all the freaking sexism and general boneheadedness coming from different reporters and commentators? Is the prospect of the US finally electing a female president in a few months causing a freakout or what?
I have literally been left with mouth agape over some of the crap these commentators are saying. WTF is right.
Can not contain my excitement over Leslie going down to Rio to kick ass and take names. This is going to be epic.
Change “joining” to “taking over” and I might have been willing to watch NBC again. Thank heavens for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation!
Leslie’s great and very funny but she’d have my love forever if she slaps down that idiot NBC commentator Al Trautwig for how disgusting he was about Simone Biles’ parents (she’s adopted so they’re not her parents?!?!? WTF?!?). For all of us, get him Leslie!
YUUUUUSSS the Coverage I need!! Interview all the Big Fines (AKA Iraq’s Flag Holder, Anything French and Pouty, all the Swimming guys!!)
Does anybody remember wall ball ?
I am estatic about this one. This is not the first time her awesome infection resulted in something cool. She loves The Blacklist and James Spader so they made a bit part just for her and Spader. So cute.
Game of Throne producers, get on it.
YAAASSSS Leslie!! I’m so happy for her, and this is gonna be FUN from Friday onwards!! 😉
So happy for her, You go Girl.
Great news! I’m not a huge fan of her on SNL but her enthusiasm and just genuine enjoyment of the Olympics make me enjoy watching her reporting on it!
Love her!
She is so much fun to watch. Love her, she’s a kick
I don’t think Leslie will have to tone anything down. I think she’ll be doing the fun, offbeat stories not actually doing commentary.
I don’t watch the Olympics but am tempted to tune in to catch some Leslie commentary. Good move NBC 🙂