'Today' Show's Olivia Dunne Interview Was A Swing & A Miss

Hey national media, it's time for you scumbags to pivot on your Olivia Dunne coverage.

In an interview this morning with the "Today" show, we learned little to nothing new about the LSU gymnast TikTok star who is the highest-paid female athlete in college athletics. It was yet another dark, super serious look at a 20-year-old who makes dance videos and hands out virtual cookies to her followers who beg for her attention via the TikTok comment section on her posts.

We're not talking about a scientist who is trying to discover cancer breakthroughs, yet once again the dinosaur media companies -- a New York Times writer famously wrote about his disgust over Dunne using "sexiness" to sell her brand -- continue to go down this road of treating Dunne like a high-level political figure.

She's a college gymnast, you idiots! She doesn't work on Capitol Hill.

"Today" sent reporter Stephanie Gosk to Baton Rouge for this big interview. How do we know it was considered a big interview by "Today"? NBC scheduled the Dunne story for 7:35 a.m. which is a time typically reserved for dark reports on political figures, COVID, mothers going through huge misery, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.

The happy content for these morning shows runs from around 8:15 a.m. to 9 before the morning shows turn it over to their B-teams to handle the 9 to 10 slots.

So Gosk is chosen to interview Dunne.

Let's take a look at Gosk's recent reporting history going back to late 2021 based on her Twitter feed:

• Law enforcement agencies and sexual harassment cases

• Nancy Pelosi's impact on Congress

• A cold case that was solved after three decades

• A pastor who stole $8M in COVID fraud, according to the feds

• The queen's jubilee

• College athletes who died by suicide

• What it's like to be inside the Olympic bubble in Beijing

• Jeffrey Epstein coverage

That's the work Gosk has promoted via Twitter. Real bright and sunny stuff, right?

And because NBC refused to send a reporter under orders to have some fun, we get a report from Gosk that mirrors the dark Dunne coverage that outlets refuse to break free of.

Here's the Dunne playbook from the national media dinosaur outlets:

Here's what we didn't get from the Gosk interview:

• FUN...there was zero FUN

• Laughter...there was zero laughter

• Gosk, according to her social media, has kids. Would it be too hard to do a bit where Dunne teaches mom a gymnastics move to take home to show the kids?

• Advice for Gosk on how to make a 'fire' TikTok or Instagram Story video...THEN GOSK MAKES THE VIDEO WITH DUNNE...THEY LAUGH...THE HOUSEWIVES WATCHING AT HOME WHO LOVE TIKTOK LAUGH...THE 'TODAY' SHOW HOSTS IN THE STUDIO FAKE LAUGH...IT'S FRIDAY...EVERYONE LAUGHS -- OR FAKE LAUGHS LOLOLOLOL -- AND GETS PUMPED TO PUT IN A PRODUCTIVE DAY OF WORK.

(This is the biggest miss for Gosk)

• How would a TikTok ban affect her business model?

• Her message to Joe Burrow ahead of the Bengals-Bills game

• Dunne's all-time favorite TikTok video

• What makes for the perfect TikTok video?

• Investment advice

• Workout advice for Stephanie

• Dunne's major

• Her social media heroes

If I'm Team Dunne, I don't agree to another interview with one of these outlets until some ground rules are met. If you're throwing a reporter on a plane to interview Dunne, you better be ready to have some fun because otherwise, you're wasting Dunne's time.

Hey miserable morning shows and national media blue checkmarks, it's time to pivot. Trust me here. Your viewers will appreciate it.

Written by
Joe Kinsey is the Senior Director of Content of OutKick and the editor of the Morning Screencaps column that examines a variety of stories taking place in real America. Kinsey is also the founder of OutKick’s Thursday Night Mowing League, America’s largest virtual mowing league. Kinsey graduated from University of Toledo.