[Looks like many of the Lakers are not happy with their portrayal in the latest HBO series "Winning Time."]
Jerry West, portrayed by Jason Clarke, sent a letter from his legal team to HBO and producer Adam McKay demanding a “retraction and an apology,” according to ESPN. The letter claims that “Winning Time falsely and cruelly portrays Mr. West as an out-of-control, intoxicated rage-aholic,” and “bears no resemblance to the real man.” It also asks for a retraction, meaning that they want HBO and McKay to say West’s character in the show is a false image. West’s attorney, Skip Miller, also stated, “The portrayal of NBA icon and L.A. Lakers legend Jerry West in Winning Time is fiction pretending to be fact — a deliberately false characterization that has caused great distress to Jerry and his family.” They also state that because the show is claiming to be an adaption of Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s. The dramatized scenes with West didn’t appear in the book; therefore it is not a faithful adaption. Lakers players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper, and Jamaal Wilkes and Showtime front office staff like Claire Rothman, Charlene Kenney, Bob Steiner, and Mitch Kupchak all included statements in the letter that denied West’s behavior in the show was accurate to real life.
https://www.vulture.com/2022/04/winning-time-real-life-cast-reacts-showtime-lakers.html
Lakers Stars Are Not Happy With Winning Time
Jerry West, portrayed by Jason Clarke, sent a letter from his legal team to HBO and producer Adam McKay demanding a “retraction and an apology,” according to ESPN. The letter claims that “Winning Time falsely and cruelly portrays Mr. West as an out-of-control, intoxicated rage-aholic,” and “bears no resemblance to the real man.” It also asks for a retraction, meaning that they want HBO and McKay to say West’s character in the show is a false image. West’s attorney, Skip Miller, also stated, “The portrayal of NBA icon and L.A. Lakers legend Jerry West in Winning Time is fiction pretending to be fact — a deliberately false characterization that has caused great distress to Jerry and his family.” They also state that because the show is claiming to be an adaption of Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s. The dramatized scenes with West didn’t appear in the book; therefore it is not a faithful adaption. Lakers players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper, and Jamaal Wilkes and Showtime front office staff like Claire Rothman, Charlene Kenney, Bob Steiner, and Mitch Kupchak all included statements in the letter that denied West’s behavior in the show was accurate to real life.
https://www.vulture.com/2022/04/winning-time-real-life-cast-reacts-showtime-lakers.html
