Kareem Abdul-Jabbar admits he checked out Winning Time: “I watched half the first episode and it’s ridiculous"

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a39637296/kareem-abdul-jabbar-winning-time-lakers-response/

"I don’t want to talk about it," the NBA legend said Monday on SiriusXM NBA Radio's NBA Today. Abdul-Jabbar already made his disdain for the series known, long before the show premiered. “While I respect other artists' rights to choose their subjects, I think the story of the Showtime Lakers is best told by those who actually lived through it,” Kareem said to Puck in December. “Because we know exactly what happened.” As Brady Langmann points out, while Solomon Hughes has done a great job portraying Abdul-Jabber, the early scenes featuring Abdul-Jabbar aren't flattering. "You can't blame Abdul-Jabbar for not supporting Winning Time," says Lagemann. "Sure, the most recent episode of the series brilliantly depicts the star's coming of age, crisis of faith, and relationship with Magic Johnson. But before Episode Five, Winning Time shows Abdul-Jabbar telling the little boy from Airplane! to 'f*ck off,' as well as the fictionalized version of himself hazing Johnson with an annoyingly specific orange juice order. Unless Abdul-Jabbar gives Winning Time another shot, we can safely rule out more words from the man on the subject."