NBC Sports said it has resolved “the situation” with comedian Leslie Jones after she suggested she may stop live-tweeting the Olympics because of network pressure.
Jones’ uncensored riffs on Olympic events have become a destination for casual fans of the Games looking for laughs since she began offering them at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. She’s continued in the same vein at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
But that appeared in jeopardy on Monday, when Jones suggested on social media that NBC was blocking videos on her commentary.
Hours later, NBC Sports said in a statement to HuffPost that all was well.
“This was the result of a third-party error, and the situation has been resolved,” an NBC Sports spokesperson said late Monday. “She 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.”
NBC has broadcast rights to the Olympics. Jones may have run into copyright issues by using video clips in her commentary, NBC New York suggested.
Before the NBC Sports statement, Jones sounded exasperated.
“I’m starting to feel like this should be my last olympics i live tweet,” the former “Saturday Night Live” star wrote on Twitter. “I know I know, another celebrity bitching. But I’m tired of fighting the folks who don’t want me to do it.”
Jones said “they” are attempting to block her videos and “get folks who think they can do it like me.”
The “Ghostbusters” actor was more specific on the identity of “they,” mentioning NBC Sports in a previous tweet.
“I have watched olympics since I could walk lol. Me and my dad. So this is from my heart. Y’all should be asking @NBCSports why they don’t see that,” Jones wrote.
Jones said in the video with the tweet that she began her funny takes because the Olympics can bring together everyone, and she admired the athletes.
“When I’m doing this, my spirit is totally in this,” she said. “I do this with real passion, not no fake-ass shit.”
Jones may have been referencing an Olympic highlights show launched last summer with Snoop Dogg and Kevin Hart on the NBCUniversal streaming platform Peacock.
“You think Kevin and snoop give a fuck about athletes and Olympics? Honestly I think this should be my last one. Its frustrating,” she wrote to a sympathetic fan, per the New York Post.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the “Ghostbusters” movie Jones participated in.