Comedian and actress Leslie Jones received great feedback when she live-tweeted during the summer and winter Olympics. Fans took note of her wittiness as she described moments in the sporting categories highlighting the American athletes.
When Olympic medalist Simone Biles received backlash after pulling out of the team competition in July while in Tokyo, Jones was not here for the negative commentary. “This is what people need to understand: It’s not enough just to be physically fit for these Games. You have to be mentally fit for these Games. One doesn’t work without the other. And the pressure that is put on these athletes has to be enormous,” Jones told the New York Times.
She added, “The way that they attacked Simone Biles, I was ashamed of our country because, first of all, most of the people that complained were sitting on their fat a**es on the couch. You’ll never do a cartwheel and you have the nerve to talk about someone and tell them that they let the country down? We have to start taking accountability that they are not actually superheroes. They do make it look like they’re superheroes, but they are humans.”
The actress said she genuinely enjoys the Olympics and has since childhood. “The Olympics were a very important thing [when I was growing up],” Jones said. “I remember us getting school time off. I remember people taking days off of work to support the Games and the athletes. I always loved it, especially the gymnastics and the figure skating.
She added, “What it’s come to now is great and how beautiful it is. I’ve always thought that this is the one time that all countries put down whatever it is that they have against each other and just compete in the Games.”
The 54-year-old admitted that after watching AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” she developed an interest in live-tweeting. She explained, “[Live-tweeting is] a blessing and a curse at the same time, because I’m going be honest with you — I didn’t actually think people were going to catch on to it. The first time I live-tweeted might have been ‘Breaking Bad.’ It had already been off the air for about five years, but it was so good that I was like, ‘I’ve got to tell people about this.’”
She continued saying that tweeting started off as “fun” but is as time consuming as a “job.” “The politics [commentary] started during Covid and sitting on the couch watching TV, and I don’t think people were paying attention to their backgrounds. I was like, ‘Does she know she’s in front of — what the [expletive] is that?’ I’m always trying to find a way to make people laugh when things are bad. It’s relief.”