Winter Olympics: Red Gerard Wins First US Gold – Then Uses Blue Language

Red Gerard, a 17-year-old snowboarder from Cleveland, won the first US gold medal of the XXLIII Winter Olympics, turning the competition on its ear with an acrobatic final jump and giving NBC’s primetime coverage some unexpected language for the viewers at home.

Like any typical teenager, Gerard got carried away after learning about his gold medals, as TV cameras picked up a series of exultant expletives he uttered in triumph. What was remarkable besides Gerard’s big win is that even though the primetime coverage was tape-delayed by over 30-minutes NBC still did not beep out the teen’s string of four letter words.

Gerard has been in last place out of the 11 snowboarders still in the competition for the men’s slopestyle finals. But his Backside triple cork 1440 earned him a score of 87.17, moving him into first place, leading to his triumphant outbursts of “what the fuck” and “holy shit.”

Perhaps the new rule is when you are the first American gold of the South Korean games, you get a pass from the NBC’s censors. We get that.

The Pyeongchang games run until February 25 on NBC and its various other outlets ,with a three-hour plus primetime block every night. For those of you who want your chilly competition live and direct, the net is streaming over 1,800 hours of events live online too.

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