Last year, 36-year old skier Bode Miller lost his younger brother, Chelone, after the 29-year old suffered a fatal seizure related to the TBI he suffered in a dirt bike accident years earlier. If anything, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi could have been an inspirational release for Bode, as he performed with a heavy heart and sincere goal to perform for the memory of his brother. But we shouldn’t have known what he was feeling after winning the bronze on the men’s Super G yesterday unless he wanted to tell us about it.
Instead, NBC decided that he had to tell us about it, as reporter Christin Cooper pushed the skier to tears by prodding him about his brother’s death in an interview that has already won the gold medal for awkward shamelessness. Everyone from BuzzFeed to Richard Sandomir has weighed in on NBC’s decision to air the interview as-is on primetime, despite the fact that network producers had at least 10 hours to realize that it was a terrible F-ing idea.
Of course, a lot of people will say that Cooper was just doing her job and pushing the point with Bode for the sake of primetime journalism, and even Bode himself has already asked that people not be hard on Cooper.
That doesn’t mean that Bode isn’t pissed about it, though, because he followed up with this RT from a fan who pointed out the obvious that NBC is to blame.
Now, I’m no big city slicker fancy TV producer type, but I’ve watched plenty of inspirational sports moments in my day. You know what I like? When an athlete is allowed to enjoy his accomplishment and he chooses to deal with his emotions how he chooses. Know what I don’t like? When someone forces him to tears so he has to spend more time talking about that, instead of his medal. That’s some bullshit, NBC.
(Banner via Getty, video via Next Impulse)
