Appearing on the “O’Reilly Factor” last night, NBC primetime Olympics host Bob Costas defended criticism of his commentary about Russian President Vladamir Putin during the Sochi Olympics.
Starting with the fact he was reluctant to come on with O’Reilly because it posed the risk of “amplifying a non-issue,” Costas said the criticism over NBC’s Olympic coverage was entirely out of context by “cut and paste” journalists.
“On behalf of my colleagues at NBC…we did exactly what we said we were going to do,” Costas responded to O’Reilly asking why NBC got involved with the political situation in Russia at all. “We would frame the backdrop at which these Olympics took place.”
Costas continued to defend himself against critics criticizing him as being too soft toward Putin, pointing out how critical he was: “He’s a villain, he’s an adversary, period.”