The Last Dance has started to receive a lot of heat after viewers caught a description of former US President Barack Obama that they found ‘disrespectful.’
Barack Obama served as President of the United States for two terms from 2009 to 2017.
Jason Hehir, director of the Michael Jordan docu-series, referred to Obama as a “Former Chicago resident” in a title card. This of course is not wrong, it is a fact that Obama was a resident in the state of Chicago. However, his status as a US President overrides him being just a former resident.
According to Hehir’s statement to Boston.com, it was ‘a little inside joke’ from the editing room, adding that former US President Bill Clinton was referred in the same way. Clinton’s title card displayed ‘Former Arkansas Governor’ in the docu-series.
Hehir has decided to change the title card since viewers have decided it was distasteful. There was even a tweet that was shared and liked numerous times that said:
Imagine having the pull to get two former United States presidents for your basketball documentary and calling them “Former Chicago Resident” and “Former Arkansas Governor”#TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/3jyN0vHET8
— Cade Onder (@Cade_Onder) April 20, 2020
Here is what Hehir had to say:
“I was pretty adamant that when we have a celebrity, we wanted it to be organic to the story.
We don’t want to just have a president for president’s sake… The reason he was in there is that he was a former Chicago resident.
I’ve seen people who are investigating whether I’m a Democrat or Republican.
I’m a huge Obama fan, so for people to say it’s disrespectful and I did that on purpose? I mean, come on. I promise you he will be the president by the end of the series.”
Quote via Boston.com
Jason Hehir says that he has nothing but love for the 44th president.
Since the changes have been made, Obama fans having been tweeting great things: “Congrats @BarackObama on the upgrade from Chicago resident to President! #LastDance.”
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