Chris “Mad Dog” Russo isn’t thrilled about being stood up by longtime NBC Sports broadcaster Mike Tirico.
Russo explained that he had an interview with Tirico set for his SiriusXM show, but it was canceled after he made fun of NBC’s decision to air the opening ceremony at IMAX on ESPN’s “First Take.”
After the segment, which is labeled “What are you mad about?” went live, Russo says that there was radio silence from NBC and Tirico.
“I said, let’s make fun of NBC based on the fact they were selling opening ceremony tickets for $20 at IMAX Theaters,” Russo said, via Awful Announcing, mimicking a conversation he had with Sirius producer Steve Torre.
“And I said, ‘Steve, I got a date for you and I. $20, you and I will go to an IMAX Theater. I’ll get the popcorn. We got the couches. I have a little Coca-Cola. And you and I watched the opening ceremonies on Friday night.’ And Steve took a $20 bill out of his wallet and threw it to me. And I wouldn’t let him get the $20 bill back. I put my foot on a $20 bill, and he was on the floor trying to get the $20 bill back. And I said, ‘How dare NBC do this? Blah, blah, blah.’”
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Russo was shocked to see that the segment carried that much momentum, although perhaps Tirico and the NBC PR team were busy cleaning up the reaction to the opening ceremony.
“You mean to tell me that ‘What I’m mad about’ has got that power?” Russo asked. “That somehow, someway, 4,000 miles across the ocean, they heard me kill the IMAX thing and decided not to put Trico on?”
The Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony has been met with significant backlash after it seemingly featured a mock “Last Supper” featuring drag queens.
However, Russo is clearly taking this one personally, as the radio host is never one to hold his tongue when he’s felt wronged.
The longtime WFAN host also had issues with Peacock tennis analyst Rennae Stubbs’ commentary during Novak Djokovic’s Olympic win over Rafael Nadal earlier in the week.