Comedian Leslie Jones has built a cult fan following for her funny banter and genuine excitement surrounding the Olympic games. But it seems that time is coming to a close.
The Supermarket Sweep host and SNL cast member seems to be slamming NBC Sports for the way they’re handling her voluntary coverage of the games, deliberately suppressing her content while simultaneously attempting to replicate it with other personalities.
Jones has been live-Tweeting both the Summer and Winter Olympic games for her 1.4 million followers since the 2016 Rio Olympics, only gaining increased popularity with each new iteration. Many fans have chimed in on Twitter saying that her off-the-cuff commentary is their favorite part of watching the competition.
She’s been true to form during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, live-tweeting hilarious commentary most recently during the figure skating competition that took place late Sunday night into early Monday morning.
Jones took to Twitter to air her frustrations over the way her Twitter hobby has been received by NBC Sports on Monday afternoon, ultimately deciding that this would be the last Olympic games at which she bothers to share her enthusiasm and funny tweets alongside the event.
“I’m starting to feel like this should be my last Olympics I live-tweet,” she wrote. “I know, I know, another celebrity b*tching. 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,” she continued. “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 me or with me. Sooo, I guess I’ll leave it to the professionals.”
The tweet sparked an avalanche of support from fans, asking that Jones continue her coverage despite the icy reception it has gotten from the powers that be at NBC.
“You’re one the most entertaining things about the Olympics,” one account wrote in response. “I can’t believe you aren’t being sponsored or hired to do this,” commented another. Some even dropped contact information for NBC Sports so fans could send in formal complaints on Jones’ behalf.
Florida Newescaster Michele Wright Tweeted her support, saying “There is only one Leslie Jones,” alongside Malcolm X’s famous quote, “the most disrespected person in America is #blackwoman. The most unprotected person in America is Black woman. The most neglected person in America is Black woman.”
Leslie has been sharing nothing but supportive retweets ever since, and it seems she has already ceased speaking about the names altogether.