Snoop Dogg embraces NBC Olympic ambassador of joy role as Games shift to his hometown

MILAN — He’s arsenic creaseless arsenic a bobsled way and crisp arsenic a skate blade.

Snoop Dogg, the rap rapscallion who puts the OG successful Olympic Games, plopped down connected a sofa successful the NBC greenish country and muted the TV. It’s exhausting being everyplace astatine each times astatine the astir spread-out Winter Games successful history.

Whether helium was carrying the Olympic torch, skiing with Picabo Street, sliding a curling chromatic oregon driving a Zamboni, Snoop was everywhere. He finished each time with a item amusement from the Milan studios.

So ubiquitous was the alleged Ambassador of Happiness, you’d curse NBC duped a Snoop — oregon possibly two.

Snoop Dogg, right, and five-time Olympic golden medalist erstwhile speedskater Eric Heiden ticker speedskating astatine the Milan-Cortina Olympics connected Feb. 11.

(Ben Curtis / Associated Press)

“The Winter Olympics are underrated,” helium said successful an interrogation Friday astatine the network’s Olympic complex. “It’s not highly-touted similar it should be. This is an lawsuit that is conscionable arsenic bully arsenic the Super Bowl, arsenic the Summer Olympics. There’s truthful overmuch enactment and there’s truthful overmuch happening, and it’s not conscionable 1 day. It’s not conscionable 4 quarters. It’s weeks of large contention — connected ice, for the astir part.”

It’s astir arsenic if the angular, 6-foot-4 Snoop is connected crystal arsenic helium glides done the backmost halls of NBC’s impermanent headquarters, wearing a achromatic turtleneck nether a red-white-and-blue leather overgarment with “COACH SNOOP” crossed the front. He’s wearing a gold-rope concatenation with the Universal logo arsenic a pendant, and gold-rimmed sunglasses that are quadrate and lightly tinted.

He greets everyone helium sees and a affable adjunct follows him, handing retired Olympic pins of a tiny, cartoonish Snoop with his arms raised astatine his side, lasting successful beforehand of an American flag.

Is it immoderate wonderment this feline creates a buzz successful each venue helium enters? He is the No. 1 personage sighting astatine the Games.

“Snoop has a joyousness astir him, a childlike curiosity, and he’s besides a radical person,” said Molly Solomon, enforcement shaper and president of programming for NBC’s Olympics coverage. “He wants to assistance radical up successful each aspects of his persona.”

NBC began utilizing the rapper arsenic portion of its Olympic sum during the Tokyo Games successful 2021 with the streaming Peacock amusement “Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart & Snoop Dogg.” Many of their playful clips and humorous commentary went viral and was particularly appealing to younger viewers. Snoop genuinely enjoyed the competition, adjacent though a batch of it was caller to him.

Three years later, arsenic the web was preparing for the Paris Olympics, executives were looking for ways to heighten the primetime coverage, overmuch of which would aerial connected portion due to the fact that of time-zone differences. They decided to grow Snoop’s relation to springiness the position of a “super fan.” With these Olympics, his relation further evolved into an experiential one, and to service arsenic an informal mentor and ambassador to the athletes.

“This is the biggest signifier successful the world,” helium said. “Nobody gets to execute successful beforehand of the satellite similar they do, with the full satellite paying attention. To person each of that unit of [something] you’ve been moving for 4 years/ … Some of these girls and guys get that 1 shot, their lawsuit is lone 1 time.”

As a roving correspondent, helium did … well, immoderate superior roving.

That included making the thrust from Milan to Cortina for curling, sliding and women’s skis racing. That’s a four-hour van thrust each way, immoderate of it winding into the Dolomites.

“Trying to slumber with my caput up against the window, with turning curves and each mountaintop,” helium said. “Sliding by trains and traffic, and ohio my god, I couldn’t thrust retired here. One mode streets. Little-bitty trains coming this way, that way. Bicycles, mopeds. It’s a lot.”

He besides made a 3½-hour travel to Livigno to ticker snowboarding — and said that if helium had to prime a athletics to vie in, that would beryllium his choice.

“I deliberation I could get bully successful snowboard, due to the fact that I conscionable similar the creativity of erstwhile you’re successful the aerial you person afloat power but you successful the air,” helium said. “I conscionable consciousness similar that’s thing I could truly beryllium bully at.”

So helium indispensable person skateboarded arsenic a kid increasing up successful Long Beach, right?

“Never,” helium said. “That’s what I’m saying. None of these sports are adjacent and beloved to me. That’s wherefore it’s gonna beryllium a first-time trial. But I cognize who I am. I don’t similar to fail. I don’t similar to lose. So I’m conscionable specified a perfectionist that I volition get bully capable to beryllium bully enough.”

He’s 54 and concedes his assemblage can’t ever execute what his caput thinks it can. He tried moving the 200 meters astatine the Olympic trials successful Oregon earlier the Paris Games and did truthful successful 33 seconds, but helium limped distant with an injury. So helium has a extremity for erstwhile the Summer Games travel to Los Angeles successful 2 years.

“When we get to L.A., my ngo is for maine to tally the 200 successful nether 30 seconds,” helium said. “In 2028, I should beryllium 56 years old. So if I tin tally it successful nether 30 seconds astatine 56, that’s a golden medal for me.”

Solomon said NBC is inactive brainstorming astir however Snoop’s relation volition germinate for the 2028 Games.

Honorary Team USA manager Snoop Dogg throws a curling chromatic arsenic Americans Daniel Casper and Tabitha Peterson Lovick ticker connected Feb. 6 successful Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

(Richard Heathcote / Getty Images)

“Of course, L.A. is Snoop’s hometown,” she said. “So helium volition beryllium a hometown hero.”

Snoop said his emotion for the Olympics dates to the 1984 Los Angeles Games. He didn’t be immoderate events astatine the time, though, noting that for a 13-year-old kid increasing up successful Long Beach, the metropolis felt “like a full authorities away.”

“We were watching connected television,” helium said. “We ne'er thought we could physically beryllium there. … It conscionable felt bully to beryllium an American, to ticker america vie against the full satellite and to spot however large we were.”

He’s peculiarly funny successful emblem shot — which volition marque its debut successful the Los Angeles Olympics — and created a younker shot league that counts among its alumni aboriginal NFL standouts C.J. Stroud and JuJu Smith-Schuster.

“I deliberation emblem shot is simply a athletics the full satellite tin drawback ahold of,” Snoop said. “There are truthful galore athletes that are successful the NFL that are from antithetic parts of the satellite that they’ve grown the athletics from them conscionable making it to the NFL and being an inspiration for the adjacent generation.”

Spoken similar a existent Ambassador of Happiness.