Yesterday, Christine Brennan at USA Today reported that out figure skater Adam Rippon would be leaving the U.S. Olympic Team and working as a correspondent for NBC for the remainder of the Winter Olympics. The story cited NBC spokesman Greg Hughes and presented Rippon’s new job as a done deal.
It turns out that Rippon didn’t know about the job offer until the story ran – and he doesn’t want it anyway.
Rippon said on Twitter that he is “flattered” that NBC would consider him, but that he wants to stay on the team to support the people who supported him.
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. I don’t want to do that so I had to declined the opportunity.
— Adam Rippon (@Adaripp) February 19, 2018
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. Go Team USA!!!
— Adam Rippon (@Adaripp) February 19, 2018
I actually found everything out about the offer via twitter HAHA 😂😂 2018 is wild girl
— Adam Rippon (@Adaripp) February 19, 2018
Today, Brennan published a second story at USA Today that said that Rippon had agreed to the offer but “decided overnight that he would rather remain as an Olympian and has declined.”
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Brennan cites the three tweets above, which don’t actually say that Rippon ever agreed to the deal. In fact, the last tweet makes it sound like he never agreed to it.
It’s not clear what really happened. Did Hughes get excited and tell USA Today about a deal that was not yet offered? Did Brennan misunderstand Hughes but she doesn’t want to admit it? Did Rippon agree to the offer earlier in the week but forgot about it by the time the USA Today story ran?
All I know is that I can understand why NBC would want Rippon as a correspondent. He’s charismatic and popular, and he would have a unique perspective about what’s going on in Pyeongchang.
