‘It’s peanut butter and jelly’: Snoop Dogg embraces Olympic torch baton role

When the rapper Snoop Dogg was asked how he had prepared for his new role as a primetime Olympics correspondent for the US TV network NBC during the Paris Games, he responded with characteristic swagger. “My preparation for primetime is being me,” he said. “Google me. Look me up, dog.”

As the Paris 2024 Olympics officially open on Friday, the one-time pimp turned rapper has taken the city of light by storm after being chosen to carry the Olympic torch through its final stages in Saint-Denis to mark the beginning of the 33rd Games.

Speaking before the opening ceremony , which will see more than 8,000 of the world’s top athletes transported along 6km of the Seine in a sporting armada as more than 300,000 people look on, the 52-year-old became emotional as he spoke about the honour, expressing a smidgen of surprise that France were “allowing” him to do it.

“I look at this as a prestigious honour and something that I truly respect. I would have never dreamed of nothing like this,” he said.

The rapper has become a key figure of NBC’s efforts to energise its coverage of the Games, attract a younger audience and by using celebrity sparkle. The broadcaster – which was accused of producing “ inescapable Olympic televisual vomit ” from the last Olympics in Tokyo – is hoping to achieve record advertising support for its coverage, which has already ticked up to $1.2bn.

NBC, which in 2014 paid $7.75bn for the rights to broadcast the Olympics in the US until 2032, will show every live event on its streaming Peacock hub while NBC will have curated content, mixing replays of events with celebrity cameos and features on athletes.

Sources at NBC said the inclusion of the rapper was an attempt to get down with the kids, with executives seemingly unaware that the rapper’s defining album Doggystyle was released more than three decades ago.

Snoop, whose real name is Calvin Broadus Jr, has been pictured having the time of his life in Paris. Wearing a gold snakeskin jacket with gold leather trousers at a party held by Vogue and the luxury goods company LVMH on Thursday, he could be seen whispering to Hoda Kotb, co-anchor of the American morning television show Today, which provoked the response: “What?! You really did?”

He also hung out with French rapper and singer Kalash, who said he was “with my uncle, we talk about culture”, with the elder US rapper interjecting: “Coming live in motherfucking effect! We in Paris, France … Bonjour!

Flavor Flav, the founding member and hype man of the rap group Public Enemy who is also in the French capital as the sponsor of the United States women’s water polo team, said Snoop’s role would be “ a very, very big moment for rap music history ”.

Asked about the significant hip-hop presence in Paris during an NBC conference call, Snoop said the genre had “always been a part of the Olympics”.

“It’s just now being recognised because it’s global,” he added. “And what’s cooler than hip-hop in the Olympics? I mean, it is what it is. It’s peanut butter and jelly, you know what I’m talking about? Over here it’s coffee and biscuits. That’s what that is. It’s a great mix.”

The rapper, whose duties will include exploring Paris landmarks, attending Olympic competitions and events, and visiting athletes and their friends and families in the Olympic village, said he was looking forward to a visit from his friend Aquaman, AKA the swimmer Michael Phelps. “Me and Michael Phelps have a session we may do where I may jump in the pool and learn how to do the 25 meters, something to that effect,” he said.

“Like I said, I’m an athlete. One thing about me, when I’m around these Olympians, I feel like I’m just as good as them or might give it a chance. So I’ll be trying it.”