A reporter recently pushed the questions too far during an interview with U.S. skier Bode Miller at the Winter Olympics.

Christin Cooper was covering for NBC on Miller after he won the bronze for Team USA in the super-G race in skiing. Instead of asking about his performance, Cooper pushed Miller about his brother, Chelone Miller, who had recently passed away. Cooper reworded the same questions a few different ways, each time causing Miller to become more upset. The interview finally ended with Miller hunched over weeping.

The social media backlash from the interview was quick and widespread. Many took to Twitter, stating that Cooper went too far. NBC stood behind her by saying she had a story to finish. During its prior Olympic coverage, NBC’s storyline on Miller revolved around the fact that he lost his brother to a seizure. The interview with him crying was the centerpiece for the station’s news that night.

NBC could have chosen not to air the footage since there were about 10 hours between the interview and when it was broadcast.  If they had chosen this route, then the backlash would have been a fraction of what it was. People were outraged that any station would have the guts to air an American athlete crying over something as personal as a brother’s death. People took Miller’s side by tweeting comments towards Cooper and NBC about going too far.  People were calling her cold and unfeeling.

Miller felt that the public outcry was so bad that he came to Cooper’s defense. In a public statement, he said that Cooper was not to blame since she could not have known how he would react. Miller even went on NBC’s “Today Show” to let viewers know that he did not blame her for the questions. The station defended Cooper as well, stating she had a job to finish the story.

Many people are angry because she was asking questions even though he was getting emotional. The problem was not the questions, but more so the story that NBC chose to run on Miller’s brother passing away. They were the ones to build all the hype about him and what happened to his brother before Miller had even started the Olympics.

NBC should have thought more about running the story. It had not even been a year since Miller’s brother passed away and respect needed to be shown to the whole Miller family. I understand that NBC wants the audience to get to know the athletes better, but there is a line. The viewers do not need to see any athlete crying in order for a news station to get viewers.

One point that is not mentioned as much was how little the race that he just finished was mentioned. Cooper was more concerned with how Miller was feeling about his brother not being there. Instead, the interview should have focused on how Miller felt after winning bronze. Up until this point, he had not won any of his earlier races in Sochi. Instead of covering a happy Olympian who just achieved a personal goal, the focus became grief. It was almost as if Cooper took away the joy he should have felt and replaced it with sadness for the whole world to see.