Mike Tirico apologizes for Palestinian flag blunder at Olympics

UPDATED with Tirico’s apology: NBC’s lead Olympic sports reporter Mike Tirico was immediately hit with criticism on social media after he made a comment about the flag French basketball player Mathias Lessort had wrapped around himself during the Olympic awards ceremony following the men’s basketball team final.

Lessort, who is from the French overseas territory of Martinique, carried the flag of his native country, which bears some resemblance to the Palestinian flag. The French team, which won silver, and Serbia, which took bronze, flanked the Olympic champions from the United States on the podium.

“You saw Lessort, one of the back centers, with the Palestinian flag draped over his shoulders,” Tirico said during the broadcast. “We are certainly aware of any statements about the Middle East conflict from athletes involved in these games.”

Shocked viewers immediately pointed out the mistake to X.

“There is no way Mike Tirico said the flag of Martinique (French colony) was the flag of Palestine😭,” someone tweeted.

“Mike Tirico, that is NOT the flag of Palestine. That is the flag of Martinique, which is to France what Puerto Rico is to us,” added another.

“Rare miss by Mike Tirico, but that is not in fact the Palestinian flag hanging on Lessor’s shoulders. It is the flag of Martinique,” ​​a third person chimed in.

Even more surprising than the error was the fact that Tirico did not correct himself in the remaining 10-15 minutes of the broadcast before closing.

“I was a little shocked that no one in the NBC truck got a hold of Mike Tirico and told him that this was NOT the Palestinian flag during the medal ceremony,” someone wrote on X.

Later, Tirico went to X to apologize.

“I acknowledge as soon as possible my error in misidentifying the flag of Martinique as the flag of Palestine during the medal ceremony in men’s basketball today,” he wrote. “They look similar but are clearly different, which is very important to all concerned.”

According to an NBC source, the network is “fully aware” the comment was a major blunder, and Tirico will provide a “full explanation” at the top of NBC’s primetime broadcast tonight about how the error occurred.

Dominic Patten contributed to this report.