ESPN has pulled Spike Lee’s docuseries about Colin Kaepernick from its lineup. After years of reported and rumored creative differences between the director and Kaepernick, the eight-episode docuseries isn’t coming out at all, Lee said on Friday. “It’s not coming out. That’s all I can say,” Lee told Reuters. “I signed a nondisclosure. I can’t talk about it.” In another statement, ESPN said it was a collective failure, with the network, Kaepernick, and Lee “collectively” deciding to “no longer proceed with the project as a result of creative differences.” Still, ESPN “[appreciates] all the hard work and collaboration that went into this film.”
While it’s hard to ignore the politics surrounding all three involved, Lee and Kaepernick were reportedly at odds over the direction of the series during production. Lee wanted to investigate Kaepernick’s treatment by the NFL in the macro, while the former football player wanted it to stay locked into his experience, Puck News reported in 2024. However, the outlet also said that Lee and Kaepernick worked out their issues and noted that ESPN was open to allowing Lee and Kaepernick to shop the series around.
Kaepernick hasn’t played in the NFL since 2016, when he took a knee during the U.S. national anthem as a form of nonviolent protest against systemic racism and police brutality that consequently scared the shit out of systemic racism lovers around the country. At the time, Disney was interested in portraying itself as opposed to that kind of bigotry. The documentary was the result of a first-look deal the ESPN signed with Kaepernick in 2020, following George Floyd’s murder, when the media was, at least, somewhat interested in exploring and exposing systemic racism and not merely kowtowing to it. Da Saga Of Colin Kaepernick, the show’s working title, entered production in 2022, when producer Jemele Hill told The Wrap that many people, including those within the NFL, would be embarrassed after the doc’s release. Of course, that was before August 2025, when the NFL acquired a 10% stake in ESPN.
Again, it’s hard to ignore the politics of the era, given Disney’s political U-turn in the months since Trump’s reelection. Since the inauguration, Disney has gone to great lengths to appease the White House, settling a baseless lawsuit with Trump for $16 million earlier this year and another with Gina Carano, earlier this month. In 2020, Disney said its first-look deal with Kaepernick would “focus on telling scripted and unscripted stories that explore race, social injustice, and the quest for equity, and will provide a new platform to showcase the work of Black and Brown directors and producers.” Today, Disney is looking forward to “identifying opportunities to work” with Carano who, in their words, “grotesquely trivialized the Holocaust” via anti-vaccination memes. It’s incredible how much can change in five years.
![Paramount really wants the Duffer brothers to craft its next blockbuster [UPDATED]](https://img.pastemagazine.com/wp-content/avuploads/2025/08/15122339/paramount-duffer-brothers-square.jpeg)
