NBC is under fire after one of its reporters questioned bronze medal winning skier Bode Miller so extensively about the death of his brother that he began to sob uncontrollably, Yahoo Sports reported.
On Sunday night, after Team USA skier Miller won the bronze medal in the super-G at the Sochi Games- in the process, becoming the oldest Alpine medalist in Olympic history, at 36 years and 127 days, the Internet was abuzz with criticism.
Trending on Twitter for his emotional interview with NBC's Christin Cooper after the competition, many thought Cooper went too far in her interview with Miller, whose younger brother died last year, Yahoo Sports reported.
"Chelone Miller, a snowboarder who died in April 2013, has been a big part of Bode Miller's story these Games. But Cooper drilled Miller with three questions that seemed like they were trying to make him break down on camera. Whether that was her motivation or not, it worked," Yahoo Sports reported.
And the reaction of the ones watching Miller's breakdown? Well, it was quick, angry and agitated.
"Reporters have to ask tough questions. It's part of being a journalist. One of the hardest parts of the job - and one of the toughest nuances to learn - is knowing when enough is enough in an emotional situation," according to Yahoo Sports. "Cooper, it's worth noting, was a skier before getting a TV gig with NBC, not a lifelong journalist."
Yahoo Sports continued, "Maybe when she looks back at the tape on this, she'll realize that one question about Miller's brother was enough - perhaps two would have been OK. But the third one, the one that broke Miller down into a ball of emotion, came off as, at best, insensitive and, at worst, cheap."
Miller took to Twitter after the interview aired for the West Coast audience, requesting people to take it easy and not be so harsh on Cooper.
Miller went on Today Show Monday morning and talked about the interview with Matt Lauer (watch here), Yahoo Sports reported.
"I've known Christin a long time, and she's a sweetheart of a person," Miller told Lauer. "I know she didn't mean to push. I don't think she really anticipated what my reaction was gonna be, and I think by the time she sort of realized it I think it was too late. I don't blame her at all. I feel terrible that she's taking the heat for that, because really it was just a heat-of-the-moment kind of circumstance, and I don't think there was any harm intended."
