NBC Sports Says ‘Super Fan’ Leslie Jones is Free to Keep Posting About the Olympics, Blames ‘Third-Party Error’ for Blocking Her Vids

Sarah RumpfFeb 9th, 2022, 4:36 pm
 
leslie jones laughing

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images.

Good news for fans of Leslie Jones’ hilarious live video commentary: NBC Sports legal wonks have calmed the heck down and decided to stop trying to block her from making people happy and will allow her to continue posting about the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Jones has earned the appreciation of legions of pandemic-weary fans with her video posts, which highlight her unique analysis, unabashed encouragement for the athletes, and enthusiastic, profanity-laced celebrations of various sporting events — all filmed with her cell phone.

But, NBC is notoriously protective of their broadcasting rights to the games, as is the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As NBC News reported, the IOC had “cracked down” on social media posts with video footage from last summer’s Tokyo Olympics.

As a result, Jones’ videos were getting blocked, which she shared with her followers earlier this week in a post that stated she was not going to “stay anywhere I’m not welcomed.”

“[I’m] tired of fighting the folks who don’t want me to do it,” wrote Jones. “They block my videos and they get folks who think they can do it like me.”

NBC Sports issued a statement blaming a “third-party error” for Jones’ videos being blocked and said that it had been resolved, reported NBC News (both NBC Sports and NBC News are under the same parent company, NBCUniversal).

“She is free to do her social media posts as she has done in the past,” said the statement. “She is a super fan of the Olympics and we are super fans of her.”

At the time of publication, Jones had not yet replied to NBC Sports’ statement on either her Twitter or Instagram accounts. Her last Instagram post was the same image from her Feb. 7 tweet included above, and her most recent tweets were retweets of other accounts expressing support for her criticism of NBC regarding her videos being blocked.

Jones has not posted a new Olympic video commentary since Monday.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.