ESPN's documentary series "The Last Dance" gained a lot of praise, but it has one notable critic: Scottie Pippen.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, Pippen said he "wasn’t too pleased with" the series as he felt it focused too much on glorifying Michael Jordan. The series was, of course, co-produced by Jordan’s Jump 23 company, which led to some criticisms from people such as filmmaker Ken Burns.
When asked about the documentary's accuracy, Pippen didn't have any complaints about factual information. But he wasn't happy with how the documentary portrayed the Bulls' success.
Scottie Pippen told Michael Jordan he "wasn’t too pleased with" The Last Dance. pic.twitter.com/NWFzvMn0Hi
— Sporting News (@sportingnews) December 7, 2020
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"I don’t think it was that accurate in terms of really defining what was accomplished in one of the greatest eras of basketball, but also by two of the greatest players — and one could even put that aside and say the greatest team of all time," PIppen told The Guardian. "I didn’t think those things stood out in the documentary. I thought it was more about Michael trying to uplift himself and to be glorified. I think it also backfired to some degree in that people got a chance to see what kind of personality Michael had."
And Pippen wasn't afraid to tell Jordan that.
"I told him I wasn’t too pleased with it," Pippen said. "He accepted it. He said, “Hey, you’re right.” That was pretty much it."
Pippen's criticisms of the documentary aren't unique, but it is interesting to hear him admit to it. It's even more interesting that Jordan seemingly agreed with him.
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While Pippen agreed to participate in the documentary, it doesn't sound like he enjoyed it too much. He told The Guardian that he didn't try to promote it, and he "didn’t feel I needed to bring back things that happened 20 years ago."
But while the criticisms from Pippen and others exist, the general consensus for the documentary has been pretty positive. If nothing else, it's drawn in a lot of viewers. After initially airing on ABC and ESPN, the documentary joined Netflix on July 19.
In the first four weeks on Netflix, "The Last Dance" drew in a reported 23.8 million viewers. Not bad considering the documentary already aired on national television several months prior.
