Apparently, calling out someone out for lying and embarrassing the United States at the Olympics is more egregious than actually lying and embarrassing the United States at the Olympics.
Page 6ix is reporting NBC’s Al Roker may have upset the apple cart by publicly criticizing U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte for his made up accounts of what really happened when he told the world he’d been the victim of an armed robbery in the streets of Rio.
Instead of tiptoeing around the story, Roker lit into Lochte; calling things exactly how he saw them:
“He lied. He lied to you, he lied to Matt Lauer, he lied to his mom, [and] he left his teammates hanging while he skedaddled.’’
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, NBC executives were peeved at Roker’s anger playing out on live tv.
“There were several producers and talent who were left trying to explain Al’s over-the-top behavior,” said a source. “Several insiders found themselves wanting to distance themselves from his response.”
“It was a great thing to watch online, but a lot of NBC staff thought that he took it way too far for something that, while it was certainly a legitimate issue and certainly bad behavior by Lochte, outrage to that level just wasn’t justified.”
NBC denies this, saying “no one feels that way” and everyone at the network is happy with the show and the ratings.
Do you think Roker was wrong for calling a spade a spade or was his rant unprofessional?
