ESPN must not have been familiar with the work of Spike Lee when they gave the very pro-Black director the greenlight to produce his docuseries about former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Now, they are citing “creative differences” and won’t be airing the project.
“ESPN, Colin Kaepernick and Spike Lee have collectively decided to no longer proceed with this project as a result of certain creative differences,” ESPN said in a statement to Variety. “Despite not reaching finality, we appreciate all the hard work and collaboration that went into this film.”
Lee told Reuters that the documentary wouldn’t be coming out.
“It’s not coming out. That’s all I can say,” Lee said at a red carpet event in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Lee added that he couldn’t elaborate.
“I can’t. I signed a nondisclosure [agreement]. I can’t talk about it.”
A source told Variety that the decision to cancel the project –– which was first announced in 2020 –– was made sometime last summer and that it had nothing to do with the NFL “which, earlier this month, became a part owner of ESPN. The Walt Disney Company owns 80% of the sports broadcasting giant.”
The project was created under Kaepernick’s first-look deal with Disney through his Ra Vision Media production company. Spike Lee joined the docuseries in 2022, which was set to include new interview and never before seen footage to help the former quarterback who was blackballed by the NFL for his silent kneeling protest against police brutality.
“Kaepernick played for the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 until 2016, when he ignited a media firestorm after he began kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and systemic racism, Variety reports.
“In 2017, Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the 49ers and was not signed by another NFL team. He filed a grievance against the league, alleging collusion among team owners, which was privately settled in 2019. In the years following his retirement from professional football, Kaepernick pivoted to activism through his nonprofit Know Your Rights Camp, as well as entertainment and media. In 2021, he co-created and narrated the limited series “Colin in Black and White,” dramatizing his adolescence, directed by Ava DuVernay.”