Magic Johnson Slams HBO Lakers Drama ‘Winning Time’: ‘You Gotta Have the Guys’

An NBA legend wants a retraction from HBO.

J. Kim Murphy One week ago, NBA legend and Los Angeles Lakers icon Jerry West employed his legal representation to send a letter to HBO, Warner Bros. Discovery and Adam McKay demanding a legal retraction for his portrayal on HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.” The correspondence included testimony by former members of the Lakers organization, including retired ballplayer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to reinforce its argument of the show creating “a deliberately false characterization.” Weeks before, Earvin “Magic” Johnson himself voiced his criticism of the series to Variety, saying “You can’t do a story about the Lakers without the Lakers… the real Lakers.”Author Jeff Pearlman, whose book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s” has been adapted to the HBO series, gets where they’re coming from.

Jordan Moreau Director Adam McKay’s Netflix film “Don’t Look Up,” which starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Mark Rylance and more A-listers, made a splash last winter for how the dark, political comedy eerily mirrored real life. The film tackled issues of climate change and media misinformation, and one fictional tech billionaire character hit even closer to home after Elon Musk and Twitter agreed to a $44 billion deal on Monday.“It’s dangerous,” Blanchett told Variety about Musk’s Twitter takeover, at the Chaplin Award Gala in New York on Monday. “That’s all I have to say, it’s very, very dangerous.”Rylance’s character, Peter Isherwell, an eccentric tech CEO who profits off a comet hurtling toward Earth, was based partly on Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs.

Zack Sharf HBO is firing back against criticisms of its Lakers drama series “Winning Time.” The show has come under fire by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jerry West, two Lakers veterans who are prominently featured as characters in the HBO series. Both men have taken issue with how “Winning Time” portrays Lakes coach West, played by Jason Clarke in the show.

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HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. The former Los Angeles Lakers player, who went on to work as head coach before ultimately serving as general manager of the team between 1982 and 2000, is seeking an apology, retraction and damages from HBO, Warner Bros. Discovery, Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, according to a letter sent by West's attorney, Skip Miller, and obtained by ET. “The portrayal of NBA icon and LA Lakers legend Jerry West in  is fiction pretending to be fact — a deliberately false characterization that has caused great distress to Jerry and his family," Miller said in a statement. «Contrary to the baseless portrayal in the HBO series, Jerry had nothing but love for and harmony with the Lakers organization, and in particular owner Dr.

An NBA legend wants a retraction from HBO.

Add NBA legend Jerry West to the list of Los Angeles Lakers’ icons who are mad about HBO’s hit dramedy “Winning Time.” Through his attorneys, the star player-turned-baseball executive connected to some of the best team rosters in NBA history demanded a retraction and an apology for how he’s being portrayed on the show. Based on the nonfiction book  “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s” by Jeff Pearlman, “Winning Time” tells the story of the groundbreaking “Showtime” era of the Lakers.

J. Kim Murphy Los Angeles Lakers legend and NBA icon Jerry West has declared the portrayal of himself in HBO’s drama series “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” as “a deliberately false characterization” and a “baseless portrayal.”In a letter issued to executive producer Adam McKay, as well as HBO and its parent company Warner Bros.-Discovery, on Tuesday, West’s attorneys state that the series has “caused great distress to Jerry and his family,” demanding a legal retraction from HBO within two weeks.“Winning Time,” which was recently renewed for a second season by HBO, follows the Los Angeles Lakers at the beginning of the “Showtime” era in the 1980’s, a legacy led by players such as Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as well as leaders within the basketball organization such as Jerry Buss and Pat Riley.

Jerry West only won one NBA championship in his career with the Lakers, but the hall-of-fame player-turned-GM was so respected around the league that it crafted the organization’s logo in his image. Now “the Logo,” as he’s admiringly called, is unhappy with his portrayal in HBO’s series Winning Time, according to multiple reports.

Zack Sharf “How did so many talented people go so terribly wrong?” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writes in a new blog post criticizing HBO’s drama series “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.” The basketball icon goes on to call the series “deliberately dishonest” and “drearily dull.”  The show, which is executive produced by Adam McKay, tracks the 1980s Showtime era of the Los Angeles Lakers and stars Solomon Hughes as a younger Abdul-Jabbar.Abdul-Jabbar starts his blog post by clarifying that his critical reaction to “Winning Time” has nothing to do with how he is portrayed by Hughes in the show. Instead, he writes that the show “commits the sin” of being boring “over and over.” Abdul-Jabbar also knocked Adam McKay, whose work he used to admire.

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Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic“I needed to hear the roar of the crowd one more time — and I heard it.”That’s how Magic Johnson describes his 1991 appearance on Arsenio Hall’s talk show in the new documentary “They Call Me Magic.” It was a key moment in Johnson’s public life, coming just after the basketball star’s announcement that he had contracted HIV. And it’s slightly telling that what Johnson recalls is not any particular thing he said but the applause of the audience for whom he was putting on a show.Johnson, throughout both his athletic and business careers, is as close to an entertainer as an athlete gets.

Zack Sharf “Don’t Look Up” is back in the news after an April 12 interview on “Good Morning Britain” between anchor Richard Madeley and climate activist Miranda Whelehan left many viewers cringing and drawing connections to Adam McKay’s star-studded Netflix satire. Whelehan appeared on the morning news show on behalf of the Just Stop Oil activist group, but Madeley undermined her during the interview in a way many social media users found “patronizing” and “misogynistic.”Whelehan demanded the U.K.

K.J. Yossman Prince Harry isn’t the only British royal getting into podcasting. His older brother Prince William has recorded an episode of Cate Blanchett‘s environmental podcast “Climate of Change.” “Nightmare Alley” star Blanchett hosts the series alongside environmental advocate Danny Kennedy.Prince William appears in the second episode of the six-part series, which is out Thursday, to talk about his awards program the Earthshot Prize, which encourages innovate ideas to tackle climate change and sustainability.

J. Kim Murphy SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for “Memento Mori,” the April 10 episode of “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” which is now streaming on HBO Max.The Los Angeles Lakers are starting to turn over a new leaf on Episode 6 of “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.” Earvin “Magic” Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Solomon Hughes) are proving to be a formidable offensive duo, owner Jerry Buss (John C.

John C. Reilly plays Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss in the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. Buss recruited Magic Johnson and turned the Lakers around beginning the late 1970s. Although Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was already on the team, Reilly said Buss’s color-blind recruiting paved the way for his success.

HBO has renewed Adam McKay’s critically praised drama series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty for a second season.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” has been renewed for Season 2 at HBO, Variety has learned.The news comes after the series has aired just five episodes of its 10-episode first season.“It’s been a thrill to bring ‘Winning Time’ to life with Adam McKay, Max Borenstein, our phenomenal producing team, and this incredible cast,” said Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO Programming. “This series not only tells the riveting story of the Lakers’ rise, but is also a look back at a transformative era in basketball, celebrity, and the city of Los Angeles.

ariety,Magic Johnson talks all things Lakers, his new docuseries on Apple TV+, and his history with Jerry Buss.Johnson’s four-part docuseries They Call Me Magic premieres on Apple TV+ on April 22, giving fans an inside look at his time playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. Another show about the team’s Showtime era, Winning Time, was recently released on HBO, but Johnson says he has no interest in watching the series as he’s baffled that nobody involved sought participation from him or his teammates.A post shared by Variety (@variety)“First of all, you can’t do a story about the Lakers without the Lakers,” the basketball legend said. “The real Lakers.