While there hasn’t been a football-focused version of docuseries Last Chance U since its fifth season aired in 2020, there continues to be discussion of those football seasons. Two different ones came into the spotlight this week, both involving lawsuits.
First, six players who were featured in one or both of the first two seasons covering East Mississippi Community College’s 2015 and 2016 seasons filed a lawsuit against Netflix, the school, director and executive producer Greg Whiteley, and more. Those would be John Franklin III (who had previously spoken favorably about the show’s impact on him), Ronald Ollie, C.J. Reavis, De’Andre Johnson, Tim Bonner and Isaiah Wright, who are seeking $30 million “for the wrongful misappropriation of their likeness and to ensure fair compensation for their work.”
Following that, controversial coach Jason Brown popped into the conversation. Brown coached at Independence Community College in Kansas for the 2017 and 2018 seasons featured in the third and fourth seasons of Last Chance U . He left that program after the 2018 season over insensitive remarks. And he told TMZ Friday he’s considering litigation of his own:
“I’ve never sued anybody in my life,” Brown told Babcock, before explaining that could soon change. “But at this point in life where I see someone getting taken advantage of like this, I won’t [join their lawsuit,] but I will get involved on my own side. And that’s something to stay tuned to because my legal team’s looking into it.”
…Coach Brown says some of the players contacted him before filing the lawsuit.
“A lot of people, even those guys that I did not coach, reached out to me to kind of be the guy to spearhead this [lawsuit].”
JB declined at the time … though it’s clear he may file himself.
“We’re not actors, we’re coaches, players. We had no clue about this. And the ironic part of it is, I know the numbers. There’s a reason that show’s still on Netflix,” Brown told us.
“I do believe there’s some advantage being taken of us for the simple fact the numbers that they’ve gotten. I know how many viewers, I know the viewership, I know the money that’s involved if you just do the simple math.”
Yes, threatened lawsuits often don’t amount to much. But it is fascinating to hear Brown saying this on the record, and particularly to hear him claim the former East Mississippi players reached out to him to try and get him involved in their lawsuit.
The actual filed lawsuit is quite specific to this one school and these six players. It argues players were forced into appearing on the show by being ineligible to practice if they didn’t sign a release, says East Mississippi sold merchandise referencing these players without compensating them, and also claims Last Chance U portrayed Wright, Ollie and Franklin in a false light and damaged their reputations.
But Brown’s comments make it sound like wider legal action has been discussed here. And that could potentially extend to the Kansas seasons as well as the Mississippi ones (and maybe even the fifth season on Laney College in Oakland, CA, although nothing’s been specifically mentioned there yet). There certainly would be complications from making this a wider lawsuit spanning schools in different states, but there were an awful lot of people featured in the different seasons of Last Chance U.
If the litigation here finds any level of success (far from a guarantee), it may not stop with these six players. And it’s worth noting that the conversation around player name, image, and likeness rights is far different now than it was during the seasons shown in Last Chance U. That doesn’t mean current standards will necessarily apply retroactively, but there are other former players taking legal action to try and gain compensation for past actions around NIL.
As for Brown himself, this is far from his first time in the spotlight. He exited the Independence job in February 2019 after player Alexandros Alexiou went to a local radio station and showed them an “I’m your Hitler” text from Brown, which Brown later claimed was referencing a nickname Alexiou adopted himself. Then, shortly before that fourth season on Independence’s 2018 season came out in the summer of 2019, Brown was charged with eight felonies “for allegedly stealing the identity of a lawyer in an attempt to silence local newspapers”; those charges were eventually dismissed in 2021. Brown now hosts his own show and sells merchandise.
The already-filed lawsuit from these six players will certainly be worth tracking. And it will be interesting to see if there are indeed further suits from Brown or anyone else.
As noted, Last Chance U hasn’t aired a football season since 2020. And the basketball spinoff’s second and last season (so far) aired in 2022. But Brown is correct that the football show in particular has continued to draw viewership and conversation long after the fact. And now, it’s drawn at least one lawsuit, and potentially more.
