US rapper Snoop Dogg has been one of the stars of the Olympics despite not being a competitor. The beloved musician has featured heavily on American TV network NBC’s coverage of the Paris Games, attending a host of events ranging from women’s gymnastics, beach volleyball, water polo and (of course) equestrian.
In Paris, the rapper has carried the Olympic torch, appeared as NBC’s prime-time correspondent, swam with Michael Phelps, attended a US women’s soccer game with Megan Rapinoe, danced with gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles and cheered on Caeleb Dressel in the swimming alongside the athlete’s wife and son, while also featuring heavily in the stands at his beloved equestrian. And he is reportedly being paid a small fortune by NBC to be part of the Paris festivities.
According to US journalist Henry McNamara, the rapper is earning US$500,000 a day (approximately AU$770,000) plus expenses to be in Paris promoting the games. “Sat next to an NBC exec at dinner, he said Snoop gets paid $500k a day plus expenses to be here promoting Olympics. From Gin and Juice to a few million to be a celebrity at the Olympics – what a world,” McNamara revealed on social media. The Summer Olympics are 16 days long, so if Snoop Dogg is getting that reported amount, he’ll walk away from the games a whopping US$8 million (AU$12.25 million) richer.
But NBC’s viewership numbers suggest the network’s investment has paid off. The Associated Press reports through five days, beginning with the opening ceremony, NBC averaged a whopping 34 million people a day tuning into its coverage, with the viewership number combining both cable TV viewers and those who watched on US streaming service Peacock. Those numbers are more than double the viewership in the same period in Tokyo, where approximately 19 million people a day watched the Olympic Games coverage.