Last year, Netflix released documentary, “The Last Dance,” which centered on the Chicago Bulls basketball team from 1997-98.
Critics hailed the documentary as a triumph. However, behind the scenes, there was an issue with Michael Jordan featuring so heavily.
Scottie Pippen aired his feelings in his forthcoming memoir “Unguarded.” GQ published an exclusive excerpt of the book.
“Even in the second episode, which focused for a while on my difficult upbringing and unlikely path to the NBA, the narrative returned to MJ and his determination to win,” writes Pippen. “I was nothing more than a prop. His “best teammate of all time,” he called me. He couldn’t have been more condescending if he tried.”
Pippen claims filmmakers “glorified Michael Jordan” and failed to give “nearly enough praise” to his teammates, adding that producers had given Jordan “editorial control of the final product.”
“Now here I was, in my midfifties, seventeen years since my final game, watching us being demeaned once again. Living through it the first time was insulting enough,” Pippen laments.
“Over the next few weeks, I spoke to a number of my former teammates who each felt as disrespected as I did. How dare Michael treat us that way after everything we did for him and his precious brand. Michael Jordan would never have been Michael Jordan without me, Horace Grant, Toni Kukoc, John Paxson, Steve Kerr, Dennis Rodman, Bill Cartwright, Ron Harper, B. J. Armstrong, Luc Longley, Will Perdue, and Bill Wennington. I apologize to anyone I’ve left out.”
According to Pippen, Jordan made a mammoth $10 million from the documentary while his teammates “didn’t earn a dime.”
Scottie Pippen’s “Unguarded” hits the shelves on Nov. 9.
