Video/News: Showtime Sports New Documentary Series Shut Up and Dribble Premieres Nov 3

UPDATED Tues 10/02/18 – Premiere Date Announced and First Look Trailer

SHOWTIME^® ANNOUNCES AIRDATE AND RELEASES FIRST LOOK AT NEW DOCU-SERIES
SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE PREMIERING ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3 AT 9 PM ET/PT

Acclaimed Sports Journalist Jemele Hill To Narrate Three-Part Series Chronicling The Cultural And Political Evolution Of The NBA Athlete
From Executive Producers LeBron James, Maverick Carter And Gotham Chopra

LOS ANGELES – October 2, 2018 – SHOWTIME has announced the airdate for its upcoming docu-series SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE, with the first episode premiering on Saturday, November 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME on-air, streaming and on demand. The remaining two episodes will continue at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Saturday, November 10 and Saturday, November 17. Narrated by acclaimed sports journalist and commentator Jemele Hill, the three-part documentary series is a powerful inside look at the changing role of NBA athletes through the lens of our shifting cultural and political environment. Hill is among one of the many luminaries featured in the documentary that includes former NBA players, executives, sports journalists and pop-culture icons. SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE is directed by Gotham Chopra and executive produced by LeBron James, Maverick Carter and Chopra.

First look SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE

One of the most influential voices in sports media, Hill was most recently the chief correspondent and senior columnist for The Undefeated, ESPN’s feature content site that explores intersections of sports, race and culture. She is a multiplatform journalist who has contributed to a number of ESPN programs throughout her career, including SportsCenter, E:60, Outside The Lines, Around the Horn and Highly Questionable. Offering insightful opinion and commentary on issues both in and out of the sports arena, Hill in 2016 participated in The President and the People: A National Conversation – a one-hour town hall with President Barack Obama on race relations, justice, policing and equality. She has been a national columnist since 2005 when she began at the Orlando Sentinel, the only African-American female sports columnist at a daily newspaper in the U.S. at that time.

SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE takes its title from conservative pundit Laura Ingraham’s remarks directed at LeBron James in February after players from the Golden State Warriors declined an invitation to the White House following the 2018 NBA Finals. The controversy serves as a prologue to the series as it chronicles the modern history of the NBA and its players, including the 1976 merger of the freewheeling ABA and the more conventional NBA. The league soon became an incubator for many of its top athletes to grow their brands beyond the court, becoming powerful players in commerce and fashion, and transcending the game to become cultural icons. SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE charts this evolution through the experience of basketball players, who by taking control of their own destinies have helped to bring about social change and use their platform for a broader purpose.

SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE is a presentation of SHOWTIME Sports Documentary Films and a Religion of Sports/Dirty Robber production in association with SpringHill Entertainment and Warner Horizon Unscripted & Alternative Television. The series is executive produced by LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Gotham Chopra, Rich Paul, Martin Desmond Roe, Chris Uetwiller and Datari Turner.
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———— Posted August 8, 2018 ————

SHOWTIME^® ANNOUNCES NEW DOCUMENTARY SERIES SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE
FROM EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS LEBRON JAMES, MAVERICK CARTER AND GOTHAM CHOPRA

Three-Part Series Chronicling The Cultural And Political Evolution Of The NBA Athlete To Premiere In October

SHOWTIME has announced a timely new three-part documentary series SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE, a powerful inside look at the changing role of athletes in our fraught cultural and political environment, through the lens of the NBA. Executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, the series will premiere this October on SHOWTIME. The announcement was made at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour by David Nevins, President and CEO of Showtime Networks Inc.

Directed by Gotham Chopra (Tom vs. Time, Kobe Bryant’s Muse), SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE takes its title from conservative pundit Laura Ingraham’s remarks to James in February after players from the Golden State Warriors declined an invitation to the White House after the 2018 NBA Finals. The controversy serves as a prologue to the series as it chronicles the modern history of the NBA and its players, starting with the 1976 merger of the freewheeling ABA and the more conventional NBA of today. The league soon became an incubator for many of its top athletes to grow their brands beyond the court, becoming powerful players in commerce and fashion, and transcending the game to become cultural icons. SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE charts this evolution through the experience of basketball players, who by taking control of their own destinies have helped to bring about social change and make their own statements in the current political climate.

“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,” said Nevins. “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.”

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