Hoping to join the ranks with Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty as a sports drama basketball fans find to be must-watch TV is the new limited series, Clipped: The Scandalous Story of LA’s Other Basketball Team.
It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since the Donald Sterling tapes hit the news cycles, rocking the NBA and sparking a greater conversation about professional sports and race. For those in need of a refresher, Sterling was the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. In 2014, his mistress and employee, V. Stiviano, leaked audio of him making racist and offensive remarks that not only insulted the players on his team, but also basketball fans and people in general. As players demanded league higher-ups take action and the public outcry began to swell, Sterling quickly saw the franchise he helped build slip through his fingers.
It's this controversy that will be front and center in the drama of Clipped, and with big-name stars like Ed O'Neill and Laurence Fishburne playing pivotal roles, the show may prove to be a must-watch of the summer. Here's everything we know about Clipped.
Clipped release date
Clipped premieres on Tuesday, June 4.
Clipped airs exclusively in the US on Hulu. Those hoping to watch episodes of the series need a subscription to either Hulu with Live TV, the Disney Plus Bundle or the standalone Hulu service.
The series is expected to stream on Disney Plus in the UK, but at this time, we don’t have a timeframe for when that will be. As more information becomes available, we’ll pass along the update.
Clipped plot
Here is an official synopsis of Clipped:
"FX's Clipped takes you behind the scenes of a notorious NBA owner's racist remarks, captured on a tape heard around the world. Based on the hit ESPN 30 for 30 podcast The Sterling Affairs, this limited series charts the collision between a dysfunctional basketball organization and even less functional marriage, and the precipitating tape's impact on an ensemble of characters striving to win against the backdrop of the most cursed team in the league.
"Famed coach Doc Rivers (Laurence Fishburne) arrives as coach of the LA Clippers in 2013. With a promising roster of big personalities, Rivers has the building blocks to win the franchise's first championship.
"The team's owner, Donald Sterling (Ed O'Neill), is a well-known problem: he's cheap, he's erratic, he's a bully. But minimizing Sterling's influence to win a title becomes a personal quest for Doc. Meanwhile, a courtside power struggle escalates between Sterling's ambitious personal assistant V. Stiviano (Cleopatra Coleman) and his wife and business partner of 60 years, Shelly (Jacki Weaver). FX's Clipped is an Obama-era story of racial reckoning delivered via meme, in which V. and the Sterlings discover who really has the power in the internet age, and which leaves Rivers and his players wondering if the expulsion of one bad apple brings about the transformative change the media wants to celebrate."
Clipped cast
As previously mentioned, Clipped stars Ed O'Neill as Donald Sterling and Laurence Fishburne as Doc Rivers. O'Neill is a three-time Emmy nominee for his work in Modern Family, but is also known for his work in Married with Children, The Bone Collector and Entourage (the movie), to name a few projects. Fishburne is an Oscar nominee for his work in What's Love Got to Do with It and is also recognizable for such roles in Black-ish, John Wick: Chapter 4 and The Matrix movies.
Helping to round out the cast are the following:
- Cleopatra Coleman (Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver) as V. Stiviano
- Jacki Weaver (Yellowstone) as Shelly
- Kelly AuCoin (Billions) as Andy Roeser
- J. Alphonse Nicholson (P-Valley) as Chris Paul
- Rich Sommers (Blackberry) as Seth Burton
- Corbin Bernsen (The Curse) as Pierce O'Donnell
- Clifton Davis (Godfather of Harlem) as Elgin Baylor
- Harriet Sansom Harris (Shining Vale) as Justine
Clipped trailer
The trailer has certainly revved up our excitement for the series. Check out the clip below.
