Six former junior college football players are suing Netflix and their former school, among others, for at least $30 million over their on-screen portrayals.
The players who were part of the Netflix’s “Last Chance U” documentary series’ first two seasons are claiming that they weren’t compensated or given the chance to consult an attorney or fully read their contracts before agreeing to have their names and images included in the series that followed the East Mississippi Community College (EMCC) football team.
Along with Netflix are Conde Nast Entertainment, the series director and executive producer, EMCC, and the National Junior College Athletic Association sued “for the wrongful misappropriation of their likeness and to ensure fair compensation for their work,” said the lawsuit filing.
The six plaintiffs are John Franklin III, Ronald Ollie, and C.J. Reevis, who all appeared in season one; DeAndre Johnson and Tim Bonner in season two; and Isaiah Wright, who appeared in both seasons of the series. The series then moved to another location for two seasons, and the final season at another college.
The MSR reached out to one of the plaintiffs who referred us to their attorney, Andrew Green, out of New York.
“A lot of my clients were portrayed as these unethical, lazy, disrespectful, non-motivated individuals,” explained Green. “The worst manipulation was Isaiah Wright.”
The “Last Chance U” premise was to present all aspects of the EMCC football program through the eyes of the players, coaches and staff. Most of these players were Black, including the six plaintiffs, who supposedly came from disadvantaged backgrounds.
They wound up at the junior college because they were dismissed from other schools for various reasons, EMCC essentially providing the players their last chance to get their act together and move on to larger schools.
I hadn’t watched the football series (2016-2020) but did watch the “Last Chance U” basketball series during the pandemic lockdown. It had a similar premise as the show followed the players and coaches of the East Los Angeles Junior College basketball team.
The players, for the most part, didn’t look good in the Netflix series. Their head coach Buddy Stephens, who often struggled with his anger and salty language, also came off in a bad light. Season one ended with the EMCC team involved with their opponent in a game that was called off due to an onfield fight just before halftime. The team was disqualified from the state playoffs and a possible berth to the national championship game.
But if there was a heroine in “Last Chance U,” it was academic advisor Brittany Wagner, who was featured prominently in each episode.
Sadly, “Last Chance U” also showed just how flawed the American educational system can be when it comes to Black student athletes.
Whether or not the six Black players are successful in their suit against Netflix is yet to be determined.
“Netflix themselves have been faced with a bunch of lawsuits already on their production of different films,” said Green. “I imagine they will likely file a motion to dismiss. We will battle out those initial stages and hopefully we can climb this uphill battle.”
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.