An NBC announcer found himself in hot water after the Men’s Big Air snowboard final at the Winter Olympics over the weekend.
In the event, Japan’s Kira Kimura won the Men’s Big Air gold medal with countryman Ryoma Kimata taking home the silver medal and China’s Su Yiming winning bronze – 17-year-old American Ollie Martin just missed out on an Olympic medal, finishing in fourth place.
But the lasting image from the event came after the final when Todd Richards was caught on a hot mic suggesting the final was “boring.”
“That was boring,” Richards said on the Peacock broadcast. “That was so boring. The qualifier was way more exciting.”
More NFL: Key Patriots Starter Facing NFL Punishment After Super Bowl Loss
More NFL: Who is Drake Maye’s Wife? Facts You need to Know About Ann Michael Maye
It didn’t take long for his comments to go viral on social media and eventually led Richards to offer an apology on social media – even though he made it clear he stands by what he said.
“This had nothing to do with the athletes, it had everything to do with the drama that went down in qualifiers, we had Val Guseli getting the call-up four hours before the event,” Richards said in his the video. “We had all kinds of different creative tricks being done, butters off the lip, different kinds of axis of rotation, all these riders trying to get it by doing creative spins. In the final? A lot of people fell, and a lot of people truly did the same trick.”
“It has nothing to do with what these athletes do because the riders come out here and they throw down. I have the utmost respect for them. It really just lent itself to the format, and I thought the qualifier had a lot more excitement,” Richards continued of his commentary. “I apologize if anyone took that as if I was calling out any of the riders out there because it truly wasn’t about them. These guys are my heroes, they are my friends, they are my colleagues, and they are all rippers. So, huge shout-outs to everyone who came out here tonight and threw down.
In the caption of the post, Richards claimed he would have said it in public or to any reporter.
More NFL: Tom Brady Changes Mind on Patriots Before Super Bowl LX vs. Seahawks
Read the full article here
