ESPN, Spike Lee Drop Colin Kaepernick 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.

As Deadline’s Dominic Patten reported in 2022, Lee was to have produced the QB CK project with ESPN Films through his 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. Kaepernick and Atlantic journalist Jemele Hill also were producing. Kaepernick hailed the project at the time as part of a larger deal he signed with ESPN-owner Disney, saying, “I look forward to sharing the docuseries on my life story, in addition to many other culturally impactful projects we are developing.”

Reuters first reported the demise of the Spike Lee series. The news agency spoke with Lee on the red carpet for an event in Beverly Hills over the weekend, where he said of the series, “It’s not coming out. That’s all I can say.”

We contacted Lee’s camp who tell us the filmmaker won’t be making any further comment on the matter. It’s unclear whether he may attempt to resurrect the project at a streamer or another distribution platform. His team did not respond to a request for clarification on that score.

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).

The revelation of the dropped project raises eyebrows, coming less than two weeks after ESPN struck a deal to buy the NFL Network, linear distribution of the RedZone Channel, and rights to NFL Fantasy. In exchange the NFL would acquire a 10 percent stake in ESPN in a transaction subject to league and other regulatory approval. Deadline understands, however, that the decision to abandon the Kaepernick docuseries was made last summer.

This is the second time this year a prominent documentary series has been dropped, a disturbing sign for nonfiction filmmakers. In February, Netflix revealed it was dumping a six-part documentary series on Prince directed by Oscar winner Ezra Edelman after the musician’s estate objected to the filmmaker’s take on his life story. Instead, Netflix and the Prince estate announced they had come “to a mutual agreement that will allow the estate to develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince’s archive.”