NBC: Leslie Jones ‘free to do her social media posts’ on Olympics

NBC Universal is denying it worked to get one of its top stars to stop providing impromptu social media commentary on the 2022 Winter Olympics. 

Leslie Jones, a former cast member on “Saturday Night Live” and other hit NBC shows, over the weekend suggested the network had attempted to block her videos and discouraged her from providing the ad hoc light-hearted commentary she has been offering for the last several Olympic games. 

“Leslie Jones does not stay anywhere I’m not welcomed,” she said in an Instagram post on Monday. “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.”

NBC said the issue, which it called “the result of a third-party error … has been resolved.”

“She’s free to do her social media posts as she has done in the past,” an NBC spokesperson said. “She’s a super fan of the Olympics and we’re super fans of hers.”

In a tweet overnight Sunday, Jones said she has “watched olympics since I could walk … Me and my dad. So this is from my heart,” and pressured her followers to ask NBC “why they don’t see that. And think they can replace me with just anyone.”

“Again not saying I was first just saying it’s frustrating,” she said. 

NBC is facing a number of logistical challenges covering the Olympics due to the coronavirus pandemic and some public relations headaches as it attempts to cover the Beijing Games in the broader context of China’s controversial place on the world’s stage.