The rapper is at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy as a correspondent for NBC and an honorary coach for Team USA
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NEED TO KNOW
- Snoop Dogg gave a family five tickets to the Olympics after they helped him out when his credit card didn’t go through at their restaurant
- The rapper is in Italy as an Olympics correspondent for NBC
- He’s been making the most of his time with various athletes and celebrities
Snoop Dogg is basically Team USA’s unofficial mascot at the 2026 Winter Olympics — but he’s making dreams come true for Italian fans, too.
The rapper, who is in Italy as a correspondent for NBC, paid back some goodwill with a very special thank you to a family who helped him out after his credit card failed to go through while ordering dinner.
Snoop, 54, ordered a cheeseburger, chicken wings, chicken nuggets and french fries for takeout from Cronox, a restaurant in Livigno, the restaurant owner’s daughter, Sofia Valmadre, told NBC and Reuters.
When his card didn’t go through, the owners of Cronox told him not to worry about it — and in return, the star sent them tickets to see the men’s snowboard halfpipe final, per NBC.
“He sent his staff to take it and pay, but they couldn’t pay. I don’t know why, it wasn’t going,” Valadre said. “So my mother told him that it was okay [to take the food] without paying. Today, he sent us five tickets to see the final.”
Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty
Snoop has been a ubiquitous presence at this year’s Olympics, and has been featured heavily in NBC’s coverage of the Games as a celebrity cheerleader. In December, Team USA honored the star as its first-ever honorary coach.
He’s bonded with athletes like Ilia Malinin and Jordan Stolz, and was in the stands when Lindsey Vonn crashed during her event on Feb. 8.
Legendary Olympic snowboarder Shaun White gave him a snowboarding lesson, and the rapper likened it to surfing, before joking that he also didn’t know how to surf. Snoop fell a few times, but eventually got the hang of it.
He’s also tried bobsledding (he wasn’t a fan) and curling, and even went down a hill on a plastic trash can.
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“That was my first time ever doing something like that on ice, and I was courageous enough to try it. And let me tell you, I’d do it again and again and again. I had fun. That was super fun,” he told the Today show. “I would never do bobsledding again. That’s just not me. I look good in there, but I’m not going down that hill. I had a good time.”
Snoop even met up with Stanley Tucci at a bar, where the actor sipped a martini and Snoop ordered — you guessed it — some gin and juice.
“I am the love vessel right now, and I love that I am the peace messenger,” he said on the Today show. “That’s what the Olympics is about. It’s about bringing the world together to celebrate sports and unity, and I’m glad to be at the forefront of it all, because this is what I love doing. I love putting smiles on people’s faces.”
To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. Watch the Milan Cortina Olympics and Paralympics, beginning Feb. 6, on NBC and Peacock.
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