Bob Costas Gives Nelly a Super Awkward Introduction Before Performance at NHL Winter Classic

Nelly performed his classic song “Hot in Herre” before the start of the NHL Winter Classic between the Blackhawks and Blues on Monday afternoon, and for whatever reason, NBC gave Bob Costas free rein to say whatever he wanted to say during the rapper’s introduction. Maybe they remembered the time Costas worked some Ludacris lyrics into an MLB Network broadcast or the time he pulled out some Jay Z lyrics in the middle of a Yankees/Mariners game and figured, “Hey, this guy knows rap! Let’s let him have some fun with this.” Or maybe they thought, “There’s no way he’s going to try and rework the lyrics to ‘Hot in Herre’ during his intro and make everyone at home feel super uncomfortable.”

But, well, that’s exactly what Costas did. Nelly was ready to perform, and Costas decided to introduce him by saying—sigh—this:

“Nelly’s signature tune is ‘It’s gettin’ hot in here.’ And maybe you know what the next line is,” he said. “So to paraphrase, even though it’s not really gettin’ hot in here, if it’s gettin’ hot in here, then take off all your pads. Here’s Nelly.”

Please. Make. It. Stop.

Here’s the intro Costas should have gone with instead: “Nelly’s signature tune is ‘It’s gettin’ hot in here.’ And maybe you know what the next line is. So to paraphrase, even though it’s not really gettin’ hot in here, if it’s gettin’ hot in here, then take off all your pads. Here’s Nelly.”

Then again, if Costas had played it safe, he wouldn’t be going viral right now for his amazingly bad Nelly/NHL pun:

And we wouldn’t all be talking about the Winter Classic. So maybe NBC and the NHL are on to something here…