Jerry West demands apology, retraction for ‘baseless’ HBO ‘Winning Time’ depiction

nypost.com:

which was obtained by ESPN, demanded an apology, a retraction and damages from the network. It claims the show has made a “baseless” and “malicious assault” on the character of the former Lakers player, coach and executive.

It asks for a retraction, no later than two weeks from the receipt of the letter, and a public apology.“The portrayal of NBA icon and L.A.

Lakers legend Jerry West in ‘Winning Time’ is fiction pretending to be fact — a deliberately false characterization that has caused great distress to Jerry and his family,” Skip Miller, an attorney for West, said according to ESPN.The letter said “Winning Time” falsely and cruelly portrays West, who played 14 seasons for the Lakers and coached them for three, as an out-of-control and rage-filled drunk.According to ESPN, West’s legal team believes HBO’s disclaimer on the series calling it a “dramatization” doesn’t insulate the network from liability.

The show, which has aired on Sundays since March 6, is based on Jeff Pearlman’s book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s.” West’s legal team said that because the incidences of rage shown in “Winning Time” do not appear in Pearlman’s book, the show has acted with “legal malice.”“Jerry West was an integral part of the Lakers and NBA’s success,” Miller said. “It is a travesty that HBO has knowingly demeaned him for shock value and the pursuit of ratings.”The letter included statements from several former Lakers players, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and top team brass such as Claire Rothman, who ran the Great Western Forum, and Mitch Kupchak, a Lakers player in the early 1980s and later West’s assistant general manager.Abdul-Jabbar described the depiction of West as “a Wile E..