What is Clipped about?
Thenew TV showdropped its first trailer on April 25, revealing a scandalous true story packaged in a sports drama.
With Laurence Fishburne leading the Clipped cast and a Tuesday, June 4, release date, there’s lots to look forward to this year.
Clipped isn’t quitetrue crimeterritory, but it’s close, given the scandal involved. Here’s the real-life NBA story explained, and how much creative liberty the FX series takes.
Clipped is aboutthe downfall of the Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling(Ed O’Neill) during the NBA team’s campaign to win a championship with coach Doc Rivers (Laurence Fishburne).
When Clippers owner Sterling’s racist comments are caught on tape, the resulting scandal impacts various players and businesspeople who are trying to find glory in a championship, despite the team’s history of bad luck.
Originally titled The Sterling Affairs, it’s about the collision of the “cursed” basketball team and Sterling’s dysfunctional marriage.
Clipped is based on the true story of Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s NBA scandal.He was caught on tape making racist remarks, and the recordings were released during the Clippers’ championship drive.
Sterling said, “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with Black people.” He continued, “You can sleep with them. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want,” but “the little I ask you is not to bring them to my games.”
National press quickly picked up the story and Sterling retained Bobby Samini as counsel in litigation with the NBA, TMZ, and his former mistress.
Finally, on April 29, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced Sterling had been banned from the league for life and fined $2.5 million, the maximum allowed.
For more FX, check out Fargo Season 5, Shogun Season 2, orhow to watch Shogun. And if you’re a horror fan, see our list of all theAmerican Horror Story seasons ranked. Or, check out our list of thebest sports moviesfor more on-court action.
Trudie Graham was a TV & Movies Writer on Dexerto’s UK Team, specializing in Evergreen content. She has years of experience in entertainment journalism, with bylines at The Digital Fix, Collider, PCGamesN, Zavvi, and more. She likes the weird and the wonderful more than anything, especially if it’s sci-fi or fantasy.
