Do you guys remember quarantine when the only thing that was there to give us our fix into the realm of professional sports was The Last Dance episodes coming out every week? Me too. It was a real blessing for sports fans everywhere who were desperate for anything related to professional athletics. It was awesome, except if you’re Scottie Pippen.
Today GQ released an excerpt from Scottie Pippen’s new memoir, Unguarded, in which he talks about The Last Dance, his feelings on Michael Jordan, and his own portrayal in the docuseries. Anyone who watched it will know that the entirety of the series was focused on Jordan. Pippen says in the excerpt that MJ had a lot of creative control over the production and directing, which is why we see so much of him throughout it. That’s also why he’s portrayed as right in pretty much every sense.
Pippen wasn’t too pleased with that, and the points he brings up are valid. The entire team let the cameras in to witness what was happening, and the footage that was meant to show the team really just ended up being a way to further bolster the legend that is Michael Jordan. Pippen makes it clear that he truly believes that MJ is amazing, but he makes it clear he felt like he and the rest of the team weren’t given the credit they deserved. He writes, “I’m not suggesting Michael wouldn’t have been a superstar wherever he ended up. He was that spectacular. Just that he relied on the success we attained as a team—six titles in eight years—to propel him to a level of fame throughout the world no other athlete, except for Muhammad Ali, has reached in modern times.” And on Michael Jordan calling him “the best teammate of all time,” Pippen said, “He couldn’t have been more condescending if he tried.”
Pippen’s memoir will be released on November 9th, and I’m sure we’ll be able to see a lot more into some of the stuff that was left out of The Last Dance in the best interest of Michael Jordan.
