LOS ANGELES, Aug 8 (Reuters) - "Ghostbusters" actress Leslie Jones almost quit Twitter last month after receiving online abuse, but the comedian had the last laugh on Monday as her humorous Olympics tweets landed her an invite from NBC to cover the sporting event.
Comcast Corp-owned NBC Sports said Jones will be in Rio de Janeiro by Friday and will be a contributor to NBC's Olympics coverage. More details on her role will be announced later.
Jones, one of the leads in last month's "Ghostbusters" movie, spent the weekend tweeting reactions, responses and words of support to Team USA in events such as gymnastics, swimming and tennis to more than 400,000 followers.
She announced that she was heading to Rio in a tweet saying "RIO BOUND BABY USA! USA!!" with a 10-second video showing her wearing NBC's Rio Olympics cap and waving a U.S. flag.
RIO BOUND BABY USA! USA!! http://pic.twitter.com/Gkaxr2UOPl
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) August 8, 2016
The comedian, a cast member on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," almost quit Twitter last month after receiving a barrage of sexist and racist abuse and harassment from a number of users.
Twitter Inc interjected and permanently suspended numerous users accounts for harassment and said it will redouble efforts to quickly thwart abusive behavior and block repeat offenders from the social media site. (Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bill Rigby)