Netflix’s ‘Last Chance U’ Stars Sue For $30 Million, Claim The Show Hurt Their Careers Without Compensation

Netflix’s ‘Last Chance U’ Stars Sue For $30 Million, Claim The Show Hurt Their Careers Without Compensation

Netflix is facing a $30 million lawsuit from six former football players featured in its hit docuseries “Last Chance U.”

Despite the show’s massive success, the athletes claim they were unfairly portrayed and never received compensation. Debuting in 2016, “Last Chance U” follows junior college football players striving for one last opportunity to turn their lives around and make it to the pros.
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The lawsuit, filed this month in Los Angeles, names Netflix, the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), East Mississippi Community College (EMCC), Condé Nast, and the series’ director/executive producer as defendants.

The players argue they were misrepresented in a “misleading, offensive, or highly objectionable” way. Their attorney, John Pierce, states:

“Make no mistake, each of the defendants have been unjustly enriched by intruding upon the private lives of the plaintiffs, taking unfair advantage of them through defendants’ superior bargaining power, manipulating many of plaintiffs’ characters, along with other means for their own financial gain while sacrificing any decent reputation plaintiffs had.”

 

 

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The players also claim they were pressured into signing contracts without understanding the show’s commercial potential. The complaint says that the EMCC profited from selling player merchandise, Condé Nast received large payments from Netflix for distribution rights, while the athletes, however, received nothing.

One of the players, Ronald Ollie, alleges his portrayal on the show damaged his football career, claiming it led to the Baltimore Ravens declining to sign him and the Las Vegas Raiders cutting him during the 2019 preseason.
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So far, none of the named defendants have responded publicly to the lawsuit.

What do you think? Do you believe the players deserve compensation?

[VIA]