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Twitter scores Leslie Jones a Rio role after overcoming abuse

Comcast Corp-owned NBC Sports said Jones, a cast member on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”, will be in Rio de Janeiro by Friday and will cover live Olympics sports, meet the athletes and “spread her passion for sports and the Olympics”. Since day 1 of the Olympics, the Ghostbusters star has tweeted almost non-stop, providing her own fiercely enthusiastic commentary of the games. The video also features Jones’ personal Snapchat filter, which says “Slay all day” underneath her name and a cartoon of her decked out in the American flag. She’s even been invited by NBC to attend the Rio games as a contributor.

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Jim Bell, executive producer of the games, reached out to Jones and offered to fly her to Rio to commentate on the games. She starred with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon in “Ghostbusters”. “I would have the whole Olympics pumped!” She’s basically our Olympics spirit animal. Her posts caught the attention of NBC executives and it was all over.

Her tweets included video of her lively – and at times raucous – reactions to watching Team USA’s performance, cheering them on.

She replied: “Hmmmm don’t play cause y’all need me!” We’re proud of you!

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“Ok packing”, Jones tweeted. “Thank you soooooo very much”.

Gregg DeGuire—WireImage  Getty Images			
	
	
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