Leslie Jones Enlisted by NBC to Cover Olympics After Spirited Tweet-a-Thon

Leslie Jones, who is still winning laughs from “Ghostbusters” audiences, has also garnered a following for her enthusiastic Olympic-geared tweets. Her number one fan — an NBC “suit.”

“OK @Lesdoggg you’re officially invited to Rio,” tweeted Jim Bell, the executive producer of the NBC Olympics, to Jones.

He’s set to iron out the details with the “SNL” star in the coming hours.

Also Read: Leslie Jones Returns to Twitter in Wake of Milo Yiannopoulos' Ban

Draped in the American flag, Jones has been cheering for U.S.A. with passionate patriotism that NBC — the official network that’s airing the Rio games — couldn’t help but notice.

Bringing the popular funny lady on board makes her happy (ya think?) but since NBC also airs “SNL,” there could be a strategic marketing strategy at work here.

The games, which have been plagued by protests, violence, Zika virus worries and a laundry list of other controversies could use some lightening up from Jones.

Also Read: 'Ghostbusters' Star Leslie Jones Brought to 'Tears' by Racist Twitter Trolls: 'This Hurts Me'

While still on American soil, Jones’ Olympic live tweets have been pretty amusing. Here are a few, thought there is a lot more where that came from on her regularly updated Twitter feed:

'Ghostbusters': The Long, Vitriolic Road to The Reboot's Premiere (Photos)

  • Ghostbusters main
    Ghostbusters main

    After months of vitriol, the new "Ghostbusters" film is finally arriving in theaters this week. Ideas for a third installment in the legendary '80s franchise were bandied about for many years, but to the surprise of many -- and the anger of some -- Columbia Pictures settled on a reboot with an all-female team. TheWrap looks back at the turbulent return of cinema's most famous parapsychologist agency.

    Sony Pictures

  • Ivan-Reitman-Ghostbusters
    Ivan-Reitman-Ghostbusters

    March 2014 -- Following the death of original "Ghostbusters" cast member Harold Ramis, director Ivan Reitman bows out of his plans to direct a third film in the franchise. Plans for a "Ghostbusters 3" had long been held up by Bill Murray, who kept declining offers to return.

    Getty

  • Paul Feig Ghostbusters
    Paul Feig Ghostbusters

    August 2014 -- Reports surface that "Bridesmaids" director Paul Feig entered talks with Sony Pictures to replace Reitman, and that "Ghostbusters" would be rebooted with an all-female cast, with Reitman as producer. Both the reboot and Feig's signing are confirmed two months later, with the cast change immediately receiving condemnations on Twitter from people who apparently think women can't hunt ghosts.

    Getty

  • ghostbusters cinemacon
    ghostbusters cinemacon

    January 2015 -- The cast for the all-female "Ghostbusters" team is unveiled: Paul Feig collaborator Melissa McCarthy, her fellow "Bridesmaids" star Kristen Wiig, and "Saturday Night Live" cast members Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon.

    Getty

  • March 2015 -- Reports attach Channing Tatum and "Captain America" directors Joe and Anthony Russo to another "Ghostbusters" project with an all-male cast. Reitman denies the reports, saying Feig's project is the only "Ghostbusters" film moving forward.

    Getty

  • chris hemsworth star trek
    chris hemsworth star trek

    June 2015 -- "Thor" star Chris Hemsworth joins the cast as the Ghostbusters' secretary, Kevin. The role is a parallel to Janine Melnitz, the receptionist played by Annie Potts in the original film.

    Getty

  • Ghostbusters
    Ghostbusters

    July-September 2015 -- Shooting for "Ghostbusters" takes place in Massachusetts and New York. Paul Feig tweets a photo of the redesigned Ecto-1, the Ghostbusters' legendary car.

    Sony Pictures

  • August 2015 -- During filming, the main cast pays a visit to Tufts Medical Center in full costume. A Facebook post from the hospital with photos of the visit is filled with comments attacking the film and its cast, causing Tufts to post an additional post with a reminder that "any comments with profanity would be deleted."

    Tufts Medical Center/Facebook

  • Bill Murray
    Bill Murray

    September 2015 -- Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver are confirmed to appear in cameo roles in the new film.

    Getty

  • Ghostbusters second trailer
    Ghostbusters second trailer

    March 3, 2016 -- The first "Ghostbusters" trailer debuts on YouTube. As of this writing, the trailer has over 900,000 dislikes on YouTube, making it the most disliked movie trailer in YouTube history.

    Sony Pictures

  • ghostbusters leslie jones mad
    ghostbusters leslie jones mad

    Outside of social media, the trailer is also criticized for Leslie Jones' character, Patty Tolan, who worked as an MTA worker before joining the Ghostbusters, while the other women have scientific backgrounds. A Fusion article calls Patty's presence in the trailer a "minstrel show." Jones replies in a series of tweets: "I'm playing a hardworking woman.The regular one that rep the people. ... You guys are the racists by labeling her a lowly MTA worker."

    Sony Pictures

  • ghostbusters chris hemsworth
    ghostbusters chris hemsworth

    April 27 -- Sony releases a featurette focusing on Hemsworth's character. It receives 2,000 likes and over 4,000 dislikes on YouTube, with comments decrying the film for portraying the male receptionist as a stereotypical dumb but attractive blonde.

    Sony Pictures

  • James Rolfe
    James Rolfe

    May 16 -- YouTuber James Rolfe, who did several "Ghostbusters" retrospectives for his website, CineMassacre, releases a vlog explaining why he will not be seeing or reviewing the new film. The vlog gets media attention and becomes the subject of jokes on Twitter.

    Wikimedia Commons

  • Patton Oswalt
    Patton Oswalt

    Among those who joked about Rolfe's video was comedian Patton Oswalt, who tweeted, "I really wanted to hate this Cinemassacre GHOSTBUSTERS review but I'm such a fan of noisy, thick-saliva swallowing it won my heart." In response, Oswalt received tweets mocking the death of his wife, Michelle McNamara, who passed away a few weeks prior.

    Getty

  • melissa mccarthy crowdsurf mtv movie awards springsteen
    melissa mccarthy crowdsurf mtv movie awards springsteen

    May 28 -- In an interview with The Guardian, Melissa McCarthy responds to the film's backlash: “All those comments – ‘You’re ruining my childhood!’ I mean, really,” she said. “Four women doing any movie on earth will destroy your childhood? I have a visual of those people… not having friends, so they’re just sitting there and spewing hate into this fake world of the internet. I just hope they find a friend.”

    Getty

  • dan aykroyd ghostbusters
    dan aykroyd ghostbusters

    May 30 -- Original Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd endorses the film on his WhoSay page after viewing a test screening: "Apart from brilliant, genuine performances from the cast both female and male, it has more laughs and more scares than the first 2 films plus Bill Murray is in it! As one of millions of man-fans and Ray Stantz, I’m paying to see that and bringing all my friends!”

    Sony Pictures

  • ghostbusters casts jimmy kimmel
    ghostbusters casts jimmy kimmel

    June 8 -- The casts of the original and new "Ghostbusters" appear together on "Jimmy Kimmel Live." When asked why he chose to be a part of the reboot after holding out on returning to "Ghostbusters" for so long, Murray said, "It was only because I knew these girls were funny."

    ABC

  • Ghostbusters fall out boy
    Ghostbusters fall out boy

    June 23 -- Fall Out Boy releases a cover of Ray Parker, Jr.'s "Ghostbusters" theme that will be used in the new film. The song, which also features Missy Elliott, receives largely negative reviews.

    Sony Pictures

  • ghostbusters
    ghostbusters

    July 7 -- McCarthy and Wiig reveal that during filming, a scene in which the Ghostbusters release a video to YouTube was ad-libbed to mock the vitriol the film had received since its inception. “I feel like the part was in [the script] already,” Wiig told Yahoo. "But we changed what was said.”

    Sony Pictures

  • July 9 -- "Ghostbusters" holds its world premiere at the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. The film scores 73% on RottenTomatoes, with TheWrap's Robert Abele praising the cast for its comedic delivery while criticizing the film's CGI-heavy third act.

    Sony Pictures

  • Leslie Jones
    Leslie Jones

    July 18 -- In the days following the film's release, Jones began receiving racist abuse on Twitter, including pictures of apes. "I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart," Jones wrote. "All this cause I did a movie."

  • Milo Yiannopoulos
    Milo Yiannopoulos

    A day later, Twitter bans Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos for terms of service violations. Yiannopoulos was accused of posting tweets that encouraged harassment against Jones, including screenshots of tweets falsely attributed to the actress.

1 of 22

The journey of the all-female “Ghostbusters” reboot has been filled with YouTube dislikes, angry tweets, and endorsements from the original cast

After months of vitriol, the new "Ghostbusters" film is finally arriving in theaters this week. Ideas for a third installment in the legendary '80s franchise were bandied about for many years, but to the surprise of many -- and the anger of some -- Columbia Pictures settled on a reboot with an all-female team. TheWrap looks back at the turbulent return of cinema's most famous parapsychologist agency.

View In Gallery

Related stories from TheWrap:

Twitter Boots Breitbart Editor Milo Yiannopoulos for Attacks on 'Ghostbusters' Star Leslie Jones

Paul Feig Sticks Up for 'Ghostbusters' Star Leslie Jones After Racist Twitter Attacks

Leslie Jones Blasts 'Ghostbusters' Haters' 'Sexist, 'Racist' 'Bullsh-t' on Twitter