Adam Rippon declines to join NBC as Olympics correspondent for remainder of Winter Games

Adam Rippon declines to join NBC as Olympics correspondent in Pyeongchang·Entertainment Weekly
Ernest Macias
Updated
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UPDATE: Adam Rippon has tweeted that he declined NBC’s offer to be a correspondent for the remainder of the Olympic Games this year.

“I am flattered that NBC wanted me to work as a correspondent for them here in PyeongChang. Doing this would require me to leave Team USA and move out of the Olympic Village,” he wrote. “I don’t want to do that so I had to declined the opportunity. I love being on Team USA and representing our country. My teammates were there for me during my events, and now I NEED to be there for them. I look forward to being with them, and I’m very excited for the rest of the competition.”

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After helping Team USA win a bronze medal in team figure skating at the PyeongChang Olympics, Adam Rippon is joining NBC as a correspondent for the remainder of the Winter Games.

An NBC spokesman told USA Today on Sunday that Rippon will work for the network on a variety of platforms, including television, digital, and social media.

With his skating prowess and bright, outspoken personality, Rippon, 28, has emerged as a breakout star of the PyeongChang Games. He is one of the first openly gay American athletes to compete in the Winter Olympics, and in January made headlines when he criticized the White House’s selection of Vice President Mike Pence to lead the U.S. delegation. Rippon is also one of the athletes who has said he wouldn’t visit the White House after the Olympics.

He came out publicly in 2015, in a story for Skating magazine, and has said he hopes his story will inspire young people struggling with their sexuality.

NBC’s contributor lineup also includes Saturday Night Live cast member and Olympic superfan Leslie Jones.

(Originally published on Feb. 18 at 4:35 p.m. ET)

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