ESPN and Spike Lee Drop His Colin Kaepernick Documentary Series Over “Creative Differences”

ESPN has confirmed it is scrapping Spike Lee’s planned documentary series on ex-NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, saying it’s by mutual agreement with the Oscar-winning filmmaker and Kaepernick.

“ESPN, Colin Kaepernick and Spike Lee have collectively decided to no longer proceed with this project as a result of certain creative differences,” the sports giant said in a statement provided to Deadline. “Despite not reaching finality, we appreciate all the hard work and collaboration that went into this film.”

The series was to have chronicled Kaepernick’s career with the San Francisco 49ers, which came to an end in 2016 after the quarterback began kneeling during the playing of the national anthem before games to protest racial injustice in America. The 49ers indicated they would release Kaepernick at the end of that season; he has been unable to sign with any other team since. In 2019, he reached a confidential settlement with the NFL after filing a grievance that accused the league of colluding to keep him off the field.

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Puck’s Matthew Belloni previously reported the creative differences had to do with the scope of the multi-parter and whether it would stay tightly focused on Kaepernick or expand to include the experience of other Black athletes in professional sports who have spoken out on social justice issues (one thinks of Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Arthur Ashe, the WNBA’s Natasha Cloud, and others).

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