LeBron James Pushes Back Against Criticism, Producing Showtime Docuseries Called ‘Shut Up And Dribble’
Fox News host Laura Ingraham once stated on television during her segment that “someone who gets paid $100 million a year to bounce a ball” should basically keep their opinion to themselves as far as the matter of politics are concerned. Ingraham was addressing LeBron James and any other NBA player who were giving their public opinion on Donald Trump and American politics, saying to them while being aired on Fox News, “Shut up and dribble.” LeBron James has decided to turn those words into a docuseries, reports The Root.
LeBron’s docuseries, titled Shut Up and Dribble, was announced by Showtime on Monday, August 6, 2018. The NBA superstar plans to bring the network a three-part series, which will debut in October, where the show will examine the “changing role of athletes in the current political and cultural climate against the backdrop of the NBA.”
'Shut up and dribble' — Fox News's Laura Ingraham to LeBron and Kevin Durant after their criticism of President Trump pic.twitter.com/0BlokQDIIl
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 16, 2018
Shut Up and Dribble will trace the path of NBA players all the way from the league’s merger in 1976 with the ABA up to current dates; roles of players in politics, commerce, and fashion will be the focus. Maverick Carter will be partnering with LeBron James in the business matters of Showtime’s upcoming Shut Up and Dribble, with LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul, contributing as executive producer to the docuseries. Gotham Chopra will be directing the series. In the past, Chopra also directed Kobe Bryant’s Kobe Bryant’s Muse for Showtime back in 2015.
LeBron also has another show titled The Shop, which will debut on HBO this month on the 28th. The Shop features LeBron traveling around the country, visiting various barber shops, and leading the customers and barbers into different conversations and debates along the way. He is no stranger to politics and topics of sociological conversation. Recently LeBron opened a school for underprivileged children in Akron, Ohio, which is his hometown.
David Nevins, current president at Showtime, had this to say of LeBron’s upcoming Shut Up and Dribble.
“If being a star athlete is inherently a political experience, Shut Up and Dribble tells that complex and dramatic story from the past to the present and from the inside out. LeBron James is one of many competitors whose place in the spotlight has led not to silence but perspective, and he, Maverick Carter and Gotham Chopra have given us an important, insightful docuseries that should bring their fans and fellow citizens to a higher level of discourse, rather than the dismissal satirized in the title.”
