No one roots for Team USA like Leslie Jones but the 2022 Beijing Olympics may be the last year fans will get to enjoy her passionate and hilarious commentary online.
The former "Saturday Night Live" star on Sunday said she was frustrated because her Olympics commentary videos were being "blocked."
"im starting to feel like this should be my last olympics i live tweet," Jones wrote. "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. And no one is fighting for or with me. Soooo I guess I'll leave it to the professionals. But thank you for all the love. #uptoyallnow," she added.
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Jones has been posting videos of NBC's Olympics coverage on her Twitter, Instagram and TikTok since the Winter Games started on Feb. 3 and dozens of them are available at the time of publication of this article, but she wouldn't be the first to face copyright issues when it comes to online videos of the coverage.
Jamaican Olympic gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah posted videos of her own races last summer on Instagram and they were removed because she did not own the rights to the footage.
"Rights Holding Broadcasters (RHBs) have the exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympic Games," the International Olympics Committee told Reuters last year. "This includes distribution on social media, where athletes are invited to share the content provided by the RHBs on their accounts but cannot post competition content natively. Should that occur, the removal of such content from social media platforms happens automatically."
Jones has been doing her commentary since the summer Rio Olympics and fans have grown to love her unique and funny perspective --- but it remains to be seen whether their support is enough to keep the comedian going.
"I do this because I really enjoy watching the Olympics. I really love your guys reaction. When I first started doing this in Rio I did this because people were telling me 'no one watching the Olympics,'" Jones said as she watched Team USA's Karen Chen skate on Sunday.
"You need to understand that when I'm doing this, my spirit is totally in it. I feel it. I love these people. I do it for real passion."
Disclosure: Comcast-owned NBCUniversal is the parent company of NBC Owned TV Stations, including this station.
